Bengaluru, Aug 18 (IANS) BJP on Tuesday demanded a comprehensive judicial enquiry into the Chamarajanagar reserve forest action against alleged poachers by the Karnataka Forest Department officials.
The party also demanded Rs 1 crore compensation for the families of the deceased and government jobs for them.
Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, BJP State President and MLA B.Y. Vijayendra said the state government should not restrict the probe to a magisterial enquiry as several questions have been raised over the Forest Department action in which three hunters were killed.
“Since several doubts have been raised about the incident, the government should conduct a judicial enquiry instead of limiting it to a magisterial enquiry and bring out the truth before the people of the state,” he said.
Vijayendra also demanded Rs 1 crore compensation for each of the three deceased families and a government job for one member of each family on humanitarian grounds.
He said the BJP and JD(S) had been demanding the compensation and jobs since the beginning of the ongoing Assembly session.
He also questioned the circumstances that led to the firing, saying the allegations that the three men had gone hunting in a reserve forest should be established through an investigation.
“If they had gone hunting, let an investigation establish the truth. But can people be killed in an encounter merely because there is an allegation that they had gone hunting?” he asked.
Vijayendra also questioned whether the forest officials could have used other lawful means to control the situation.
He demanded an investigation into whether the forest officials had acted within the law or whether there had been lapses in the discharge of their duties.
“If the guilty are officials or anyone else, action must be taken according to law,” he said.
Vijayendra said the government in power when the incident occurred should not be the focus of the investigation and that accountability should be fixed irrespective of political considerations.
“If similar incidents occurred during previous governments, those should also be investigated. But the government cannot evade responsibility in the present case by pointing to incidents that occurred under previous governments,” he said.
Earlier on Monday, in the Legislative Assembly, Forest and Ecology Minister Ramalinga Reddy said the forest officials received information around 8 p.m. on August 14 about poachers entering the Shagya jurisdiction of the Hanur Sub-Division of the Cauvery Wildlife Reserve with weapons and sent two search teams.
In the Karadikallu area, forest personnel came upon the poachers hiding behind boulders, firing at them.
Reddy said that after the forest staff came under fire, they returned fire in the direction from which the bullets were being fired. The poachers were positioned at a higher elevation and continued firing at the forest personnel who returned fire as they were authorised to do so, he said.
Around 10 forest personnel also received treatment for injuries, the minister said. A case has been registered in connection with the incident as the poachers had not obtained permission to enter the reserve forest. During the operation, forest personnel recovered around 34.5 kg of suspected wildlife meat, he said.
–IANS
mka/rad
