A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on December 13 dismissed a public interest litigation challenging an order issued by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and the Chief Wildlife Warden for taking appropriate steps to shoot a tiger which attacked a farmer at Wayanad and partially ate his body.
The Bench comprising Chief Justice A.J. Desai and Justice V.G. Arun directed the petitioner — Animal and Nature Ethics Community, Ernakulam — to pay ₹25,000 as cost. The petitioner had alleged the order was illegal as the tiger could be tranquilised and captured.
The court observed that the order issued by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest was a well-reasoned. The court, therefore, felt the litigation had been filed only with motives known to the petitioner.
Prajeesh Kuttappan Marottiparambil, 36, was reportedly killed by a tiger, and his half-eaten body was found near a forest at Vakeri in Wayanad on Saturday.
