IMPORTANT POINT
There is no absolute rule that an extra judicial confession can never be the basis of a conviction, although ordinarily an extra judicial confession should be corroborated by some other material.

JUDGMENT

Markandey Katju, J. —

1. Leave granted.

2. Shera was the symbol of the recent Commonwealth Games, but ironically Shera has been almost exterminated in our country. The Sher Khan of Rudyard Kipling’s ‘Jungle Book’, which once abounded in India, is rarely to be seen today.

3. This case reveals how avaricious and rapacious persons have by organized crime destroyed large parts of the wild life of India and brought many animals e.g. tigers, leopards, bison, etc. almost to the brink of extinction, thereby seriously jeopardizing and destroying the ecological chain and ecological balance in our environment.

4. The appellant herein has been convicted under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 by all the three courts below and now he is in appeal before us.

5. Before dealing with the facts of this case, we would like to comment upon the background. India, at one time, had one of the richest and most varied fauna in the world. However, over the last several decades there has been rapid decline of India’s wild animals and birds which is a cause of grave concern. Some wild animals and birds have already become extinct e.g. the cheetah and others are on the brink of extinction. Areas which were once teeming with wild life have become devoid of it, and many sanctuaries and parks are empty or almost empty of animals & birds. Thus, the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan and the Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh today have no tigers.

6. One of the main causes for this depredation of the wild life is organized poaching which yields enormous profits by exports to China and other countries.

7. Article 48A of the Constitution states as follows :

“48A. Protection and improvement of environment and safeguarding of forest and wild life. - The State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wild life of the country”.

8. Article 51A (g) of the Constitution states that it is the duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the natural environment including the wild life.

9. The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 was enacted for this constitutional purpose. Chapter III of the said Act prohibits hunting of wild animals except in certain limited circumstances. Chapter IV enables the State Government to declare any area as a sanctuary or national park, and destruction or removal of animals from those areas is prohibited except under very limited circumstances. Chapter V & VA prohibits trade or commerce of wild animals, animal articles or trophies. Chapter VI makes violation of the provisions of the Act a criminal offence. By the Wildlife Protection (Amendment) Act, 2002 the punishment has been increased vide Section 51 as amended, and the property derived from illegal hunting and trade is liable to forfeiture vide Chapter VIA.

10. Before dealing with the facts of this case, we may consider why preservation of wild life is important for human society.

11. Preservation of wild life is important for maintaining the ecological balance in the environment and sustaining the ecological chain. It must be understood that there is inter-linking in nature. To give an example, snakes eat frogs, frogs eat insects and insects eat other insects and vegetation. If we kill all the snakes, the result will be that number of frogs will increase and this will result in the frogs eating more of the insects and when more insects are eaten, then the insects which are the prey of other insects will increase in number to a disproportionate extent, or the vegetation will increase to a disproportionate extent. This will upset the delicate ecological balance in nature. If we kill the frogs the insects will increase and this will require more insecticides. Use of much insecticide may create health problems. To give another example, destruction of dholes (wild dogs) in Bhutan was intended to protect livestock, but this led to greater number of wild boar and to resultant crop devastation causing several cases of abandonment by