7 elephants killed in 11 days: HC directs govt to take immediate steps

The High Court today directed the authorities concerned to immediately take necessary steps to stop the killing of elephants and human intrusion into elephant corridors.

The HC also asked to build awareness among the public about this issue.

The bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman passed the order and issued the rule following a writ petition filed by wildlife protection activists Adnan Azad, Farzana Yasmin and Khan Fatim Hasan seeking necessary directives on the respondents to stop killing the elephants.

The court also issued a rule asking the authorities to explain in four weeks why they should not be directed to issue a gazette notification declaring the twelve elephant corridors, identified by the forest department and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in the country, as reserved corridors.

In the rule, the court also asked the respondents to explain why their inaction to stop the killing of elephants should not be declared illegal.

Secretaries at the ministries of environment, forest and climate change, law, justice and parliamentary affairs; chief conservator of forest department; director of wildlife crime control unit and 16 other officials concerned of the government have been made respondents to the rule.

The writ petition was filed as a public interest litigation to the HC on November 21 as seven elephants in total were reportedly killed in just eleven days this month. Among them, two were in Sherpur, and the rest in Cox's Bazar and Chattogram.

Deputy Attorney General Bepul Bagmar told The Daily Star that the killing of elephants is prohibited under the Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act, 2012 and the government has taken necessary steps under the law.

Lawyer Khan Khalid Adnan placed arguments on behalf of the writ petitioners before the HC during the writ hearing.