21st May, 2004

In a shocking development, on 19 May 2004, the Special Sessions Court judge in Ajmer granted bail to notorious wildlife trader Sansar Chand. Efforts to keep him behind bars appear to have suffered a setback, and prosecution agencies will have to put in a greater effort to keep him in jail.

Conservationists who were following the ups and downs of the Sansar Chand drama were delighted when he was sentenced to five years imprisonment by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate in Ajmer on 29 April 2004. Although India’s Wild Life (Protection) Act allows for a sentence of up to seven years, Sansar is the first wildlife criminal to receive a sentence of this length.

Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) has been following over ten cases involving Sansar Chand for over a decade, and we are well acquainted with the tricks employed by this wily trader and his lawyers. We remain optimistic about the eventual outcome of this case. Once it moves to a higher court, WPSI lawyers will be able to assist the prosecution in proving that Sansar is a habitual offender. He may have won a skirmish; he cannot win the war.