The Supreme Court recently issued notice to the state of West Bengal on a Contempt Petition alleging that it continues to use inhumane methods to ward off elephants from human-populated areas, breaching an undertaking given to the Court.

The petition claims "wilful disobedience" of the undertaking given by the state in that it would not use spikes and would only use mashaals, which are fire-tipped iron rods, in emergency situations. The Petitioner placed photographs showing that the states continues to deploy these methods. In its Order passed on September 8, 2018, a two-Judge Bench had said, "Wherever the spikes or fireballs are used for driving elephants, remedial steps should be taken by the concerned States for removing the spikes and desisting from using the fireballs."

Regarding the use of mashaals, West Bengal submitted in December 2018 that it was the only method available then and since the annual migration of elephants was about to start, it may not be possible to implement any other method. The state had said that mashaals "may be used" only as an emergency measure under the direct control of the Forest Department "for the time being only to avoid any deaths and crop damage that may take place and ensure the proper movement of elephants in the corridors."

On the use of spikes, the state had "categorically stated" that they are not being used and will not be used. The state undertook it will consult the Wildlife Institute of India for for advice on the repelling and deterring methods mentioned in the guidelines issued by the environment ministry "for the purpose of reducing, if not, eliminating human elephant conflicts."

A two-Judge Bench of Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice K.V. Vishwanathan issued notice to the state of West Bengal on November 14, returnable in four weeks. The Bench, however, decided to dispense with the personal appearance of the alleged contemnor state for now.

Advocate Rashmi Nandakumar appeared for the Petitioner Prerna Singh Bindra. Advocate Suhasini Sen appeared for the Union Government.

The original Writ Petition was filed in 2018 to highlight the "cruel and torturous" methods used in four states – Karnataka, West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Odisha – to manage human-wildlife conflict, and in particular human-elephant conflict in the affected areas. The Court heard the matter on several occasions after that, during the course of which the state of West Bengal made the undertaking.

The recently filed contempt petition, drafted by Advocate Shibani Ghosh, says “The use of mashaals, sharp metal rods, fireballs, inflammable objects, etc. as a method to scare away elephants is extremely cruel and barbaric and causes immense mental trauma and physical distress to the elephants on a regular basis.”

The petition contains photographs taken on August 15, 2024 in the Jhargram district of West Bengal. One of these show a hula party - a group of local people deployed by forest officials in jungle areas to avoid human-elephant conflict- with burning mashaals and another shows an injured pregnant elephant mother with rod near her spine, who later succumbed to injuries. According to the petition, hula parties primarily exist in the Southern West Bengal districts of Jhargram, Bankura, West Medinipur and Purulia, to drive elephants away from human habitations and croplands. While the purported aim of using mashaals is to guide elephants along designated paths by showing them fire from a distance, hula parties often throw them at elephant herds, resulting in injuries and deaths of elephants.

The Petitioner submitted that the Forest Department has taken no effort to ensure that people recruited for hula drives are responsible members of the community who would not indulge in rowdy behaviour. The hula parties, it further submits, have a vested interest in the continuation of such drives since its members are engaged on payment of daily wages by the forest authorities.

Scientific studies suggest that elephants who experience trauma due to constant conflict, violence and habitat loss show distress, stress and hyper-aggression, the petition says, adding that the constant chasing away and violence is breeding an “anxious group of elephants which are perennially in a stressed state as a result of which the conflict situation will only escalate endangering the lives of both elephants and humans.”

The Union Government filed an affidavit on in October 2018 annexing a report prepared by Inspector General of Forests (Project Elephant Division) stating that West Bengal Forest Department has informed that hula parties are being controlled by the department and are not using any inhumane methods like fire balls to drive away elephants from crop fields.

In October 2017, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change issued the Guidelines for Management of Human Elephant Conflicts recognising that commonly used repellant methods include emitting loud noises and crackers and using electric torches, kerosene, mashaals and swinging fireballs. It says that 'new repellant methods' include emitting bee sounds, sounds by predators such as tigers and using drones.

Cause Title: Prerna Singh Bindra v. Union of India [Writ Petition (Civil) 489/2018]

Appearance:

Petitioner: Advocates Rashmi Nandakumar, Yashmita Pandey, and Shibani Ghosh

Respondents: Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati and Advocates Suhasini Sen, Alka Agrawal, Ruchi Kohli, Mukul Singh, Aman Sharma, Gurmeet Singh Makker, V. N. Raghupathy, Astha Sharma, Shreyas Awasthi, Himanshu Chakravarty and Chandra Bhushan Prasad.

Click here to read/download the Order


Justice B.R. GavaiJustice K.V. Vishwanathan

Tushar Kohli