Thaindian News

New Delhi, Oct 4 (IANS) The Supreme Court Monday slammed notorious poacher Sansar Chand for killing tigers, leopards and other endangered species for commercial gains and said the day was not far when human skin would also be traded.

Reserving its verdict on a petition by Sansar Chand challenging his conviction by a trial court in Rajasthan’s Ajmer city in a poaching case, the apex court bench of Justice Markandey Katju and Justice T.S. Thakur said the day was not far when human skins would also be traded for commercial gains.

In a strong indictment of Sansar Chand’s poaching activities, the court said: “The population of tigers and leopards was declining because you (Sansar Chand) are trading in skins of tigers and leopards. There is no tiger left in Sariska (Tiger Reserve).”

“For your appetite for more money, tomorrow you will even sell human skins,” the court chided the petitioner.

The court rejected the contention of counsel for the petitioner, Siddhartha Luthra, that his client was not involved in poaching.

He said that if his client was involved in poaching then how was it possible that even after his arrest poaching was going on.

Unimpressed by Luthra’s plea, the court said: “You are all interested in money. You want only money. Everything in the country is commercial. Today people sell the skin of tigers and leopards, tomorrow they would sell human skin also.”

Sansar Chand has moved the apex court challenging his conviction in a case involving the smuggling of parts of tiger and leopard bodies in Rajasthan in 2003. Sansar Chand is undergoing a five-year jail term.

It may be recalled that in 2006, Sansar Chand had admitted to selling 470 tiger skins and 130 leopard skins to customers in Nepal and Tibet. He made this confession before the Central Bureau of Investigation.