A gruesome incident took place in Sahyadri Tiger Reserve (STR) in Maharashtra where a Bengal monitor lizard was allegedly gangraped, said officials on April 13.
It came to light after four persons were arrested for illegally entering Chandoli National Park, which is part of the reserve, with one of them carrying a gun for hunting, Gothane village in Ratnagiri district. They were also carrying weapons.
During interrogation, one of the poachers confessed to having raped a monitor lizard in the forest while filming the act too on the mobile phones.
The officials said that the forest department is now preparing to hand over the person to a psychiatrist. This incident is considered to be extremely rare in forest crime, they added.
This incident came to light when on March 31, a forest ranger spotted four accused heading towards the forest with weapons in a camera trap at the Tiger Reserve.
The accused were identified as Sandeep Tukaram Pawar, Mangesh Kamtekar, Akshay Kamtekar and Ramesh Ghag. Officials further stated that one accused was arrested from Hativ village and two accused from Maral in Sangameshwar taluka of Ratnagiri. They have also seized their mobile phones.
After checking the accused's mobile phones, a recorded video of one of the culprits having physical intercourse with a monitor lizard was handed over to the forest authorities, said the forest officials.
Besides, it has been observed that the hunted animals have also been photographed on their mobiles. The photos of the hunted rabbits, pangolins and deer have also been found on their mobile phones.
An inquiry is underway as to whether the victim lizard survived the heinous act and whether the accused had done the same act with any other wild animal. However, as there is still room for investigation, a team of forest officials will take up the matter further.
Moreover, all the legal aspects will be presented before the court. The help of legal experts will be sought for this.
As per the Wildlife Act, there is a provision for seven years’ imprisonment for such acts. There are different categories of protection under the protection of wildlife in the country.
The STR is spread over four districts of Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur and Ratnagiri.
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