By Neena Bhandari

As humans and animals vie for space, a lot can be learnt from the Bishnois and other rural communities in India, which have for generations co-existed with the wildlife forming an integral part of the ecosystem. When in 1998 five Bollywood film stars from Mumbai went hunting in the forests on the outskirts of the historic city of Jodhpur in the western Indian state of Rajasthan and killed two black bucks and a chinkara (Indian Gazelle), they had expected to bag trophies not trouble.

But Bollywood heroes Salman Khan and Saif Ali Khan and the three heroines accompanying them – Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam Kothari, who were in Jodhpur for the shooting of Hum Saath Saath Hain, had made a grave mistake. They had ignored the fact that they were in Bishnoi territory. Salman Khan, who shot the two black bucks in the early hours of October 2, 1998, was charged under the Wildlife Protection Act for hunting a protected animal. On March 23, 2013, the other four have also been charged with abetment to committing an offence of hunting a protected antelope. If convicted, the actors could be jailed for up to six years.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Chandrakala Jain read out the charges under sections 9/51 and 9/52 of the Wildlife Protection Act and Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code and posted the case for next hearing on April 27. The actors have denied the charges read out to them by the judge.

Salman has already been convicted in two other poaching cases during the same visit to Jodhpur. He was sentenced to a year’s jail for shooting two endangered chinkara deer, and to five years in prison for shooting another blackbuck just days before the 1998 shooting. He has appealed against both sentences.

The Bishnois are a unique peasant community still upholding a 500-year-old tradition of conservation in Rajasthan. Tillers of the sandy soil and herdsmen, they tend the groves of tall trees around their villages and protect animals as lovingly as their own children.

At Gudha Bishnoiyan village, 32 km from Jodhpur, the thorny Khejadi (Prosopis cineraria) trees grow thick and green. At sunset flocks of birds fly to their nests in the tree tops, while the men trudge home after a day’s toil in the fields. As twilight descends, women kindle the stove or milch cows or buffaloes, while old men recline on string cots, smoking their hukka (clay pipes).

It was near this village that the film stars in the autumn of 1998 had shot the protected blackbucks. Three Bishnois from the village, Choga Ram, Teeja Ram and Bhanwar Lal, had spotted the poachers. Other villagers had got onto their motorbikes and chased the jeep being driven by the film stars.

The Bishnois, a peaceful and non-violent community, have always reacted strongly to attacks on the flora and fauna around their settlements as they depend largely on farming and animal husbandry for sustenance.

In the Thar desert, where nature is beautiful yet unforgiving, monsoon is the only source of water. For centuries the Bishnois have eked out a living from the parched land and warded off starvation by scrupulously preserving the patches of green cover around their settlements.

In the middle of the fifteenth century, this region had experienced an eight-year long drought in which many people and cattle perished. A young man of Pipasar village, Jambaji, then realized that in the past his clan had survived drought because of the abundance of trees in the area. But deforestation had destroyed this support system.

Jambaji distilled his thoughts into 29 principles which he taught his people. Cut no living tree and kill no animal, grow the indigenous trees like `khejadi’ which can thrive in harsh, dry conditions. Khejadi, which is worshipped by the Bishnois, provides shade and foliage for goats, sheep, cattle and camels, its pods make delicious curry and its thorns are a natural fence guarding fields against marauding animals.

Their faith was put to the test when Maharaja Abhay Singh of Jodhpur decided to build a new palace. The masons needed lime for the building. There was limestone available but it had to be baked. They decided to cut down some Khejadi trees for fuel, but the Bishnois objected.

Anxious to protect the trees, a woman called Amrita Devi and her three daughters ran out and hugged the trees. The Maharaja’s soldiers hacked them down. Other Bishnois came forward and they too were killed. As many as 363 people from 84 villages died resisting the onslaught. The people’s revolt forced Maharaja Abhay Singh to give in. The repentant king then conferred on the valiant clan the right to prevent felling of trees and killing of wildlife in their area.

The villagers had their own jury and the penalty was mostly paid in grain for the birds or fodder for the cattle. The hunter was not allowed to take away the kill, which was buried with full rites. This was when hunting was still a sport and royal pastime. It was long before the Government of India enacted a comprehensive legislation, the Wildlife Protection Act in 1972 with the objective of effectively controlling poaching and illegal trade in wildlife and its derivatives. The Act was amended in 2003 to make punishment and penalty for poaching and other offences more stringent.

In the high profile case of the film stars, a formal police complaint was lodged as the chinkaras and black bucks are listed in Schedule I (most protected species) of the Wildlife Act. It took eight long years for a conviction in this case. The fact that villagers gave evidence against the celebrity stars and the judge convicted Salman is commendable. The landmark judgment sent a strong message to the general and high profile citizens that when it comes to poaching, nobody is above the law of the land and the Wildlife Protection Act does have teeth.

This case has also raised the morale of hundreds of forest guards and rangers, who work in harsh conditions with meagre resources, risking their lives to protect India’s diminishing forests and dwindling flora and fauna.

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