A group of elephants broke into a colony outside of Jhargram town in West Bengal on August 15, 2024, according to the plea.
A plea seeking the start of contempt proceedings for alleged violations of the Supreme Court’s orders to stop state authorities from using fireballs to drive elephants that approach croplands or human habitation was accepted by the court on Thursday.
The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Head of Forest Force) of West Bengal was notified by a bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanthan to respond to the plea. Four weeks later, the matter was scheduled for hearing.
In addressing a plea that emphasised the harsh tactics employed in certain states to handle human-wildlife conflict, particularly human-elephant conflict, the petitioner, Prerna Singh Bindra, cited the rulings issued by the Supreme Court on August 1, 2018, and December 4, 2018.
According to the contempt plea submitted by advocate Shibani Ghosh, the top court stated in its August 1, 2018, ruling that states should take corrective action to remove spikes and stop using fireballs wherever they are used to drive elephants.
The plea stated, “This court had given the State of West Bengal explicit instructions through these two orders to refrain from using fireballs to drive or chase elephants that approach human habitation and croplands.”
It stated that the practice of employing such “cruel and barbaric techniques” to frighten and pursue elephants persists in West Bengal, even though the Supreme Court has explicitly instructed people to refrain from using fireballs or “mashaals” unless it is an emergency and only for a brief time.
The plea claims that on August 15, 2024, a group of elephants broke into a colony outside of Jhargram town in West Bengal. It stated that one of the group’s tuskers had killed an elderly resident.
It stated that “officials from the West Bengal forest department arrived at the location with ‘Hulla’ parties, which are groups of young people from the area who are armed with iron rods or spikes and burning’mashaals’ to drive the elephants away.”
A burning spike lodged on the spine of a female elephant, causing her to collapse after she was thrown a mashaal by a purportedly Hulla party member, according to the plea
In April 2023, a “Hulla” party carrying fire-it “mashaal” was observed pursuing a herd of elephants from the Kalaikunda range in Kharagpur division, Paschim Medinipur.
According to the plea, “The respondent/alleged contemnor is in contempt of this court’s orders to seek alternative means to mitigate the conflict situation or reduce negative interactions by continuing to rely on ‘Hulla’ parties that burn’mashaals’ at elephants as the primary means of resolving human-elephant conflicts.”
It claimed that scaring elephants away with “mashaals,” sharp metal rods, fireballs, flammable objects, etc. is incredibly barbaric and cruel, causing the animal great mental and physical suffering.