JOIN US3 held for chasing lion away from kill on JCB machine
The forest officers on Wednesday arrested three persons for allegedly harassing a lion by chasing it while driving a JCB machine in Amreli district. Forest officials said that the action came after videos of the accused chasing the lion away from its kill surfaced on social media.
Officials said that the three accused were produced before the judicial magistrate in Jafrabad court in Amreli district. The magistrate refused to grant them bail and sent them to jail in judicial custody. Earlier this week, three persons had been arrested in Junagadh district for trespassing in the forest area at night and chasing three lions in a vehicle.
In the latest case, forest officials caught Manoj Vansh, 30, a resident of Una in Gir-Somnath district, Shubham Prajapati, 18, a resident of Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh and Rana Manik Kalita, 30, who is originally from Assam.
In a press note, the officials said that the three accused harassed the lion by chasing it away from the kill and then shot the video. The video clips revealed that suspects chasing the lion while driving a JCB machine. The accused were booked under the wildlife protection act, of 1972.
Earlier last week, forest officials arrested three persons for harassing the three lions by chasing them in their car while shooting videos in Gir Wildlife Sanctuary in Junagadh. Every year, dozens of people get arrested for harassing the lions or holding "illegal live shows" in which they bait the big cats with cows or even chickens and ill-treat them.
According to latest census, there are 674 lions whose habitat has spread in over 30,000 sq km, which includes protected forest and agro-pastoral landscapes of nine districts including Junagadh and Amreli. The region is also known as the last abode of Asiatic lions.