Stalking Mrigayas

The only ones unwilling to forget and forgive are the Bishnois. This prosperous and influential community of Vishnu worshippers are prepared to protect the environment at any cost. Politically, they dominate four of the eight assembly constituencies in Jodhpur—Looni, Falodi, Osian and Bilara—and hence can't be taken lightly. "One of our tenets says it's cheaper to sacrifice a human head than to fell a tree," says Rampal Bhavad, chairman of the environmental group Bishnoi Tiger Force (BTF). B.R. Bhadoo, DFO (deputy forest officer) of the forest department in Jodhpur, adds, "They have a terrific involvement with the issue and a great information system to track down offenders." Environmentalists and forest officials collaborate in the region. "We help and support each other. We have the manpower and resources to bring the cases to light while the forest department helps take them forward legally," says Rampal.

The Bishnois welcome the media attention the Salman case has brought them. "Previously, only a short report would deal with such news. Salman has brought wildlife into focus," says BTF general secretary Ram Nivas Budhnagar.

The BTF now has 14,600 members across India, with 7,500 in Jodhpur alone. And Salman is not the only one at their receiving end. Rajasthan has a long tradition of hunting of wild animals; even the Sansi tribe and Harijan communities here are known to feast on venison. The BTF has helped bring several such cases to light. Their activism has undoubtedly helped bring down violations. According to Bhadoo, from April to July this year, 18 wild life violation cases were registered in Jodhpur. In 2006-07, 31 cases were registered while in 2005-06, 51 cases were registered. "Poaching is going down thanks to the Salman case; more cases are getting registered due to the increased awareness," says Rampal.

BTF is a smoothly-run, technology-savvy organisation. Almost every Bishnoi has a mobile phone handy and every family has a motorbike. A couple of hundred members of their flying squad can congregate in a jiffy on hearing of any incident. They even donated a Bolero Camper car to the forest department this week for helping in tracking offenders. Lawyers from the Bishnoi community help in fighting these cases free of charge. Mahipal Bishnoi helped the prosecutor in the Salman trial. Besides catching wildlife criminals, BTF also organises awareness movements to involve all communities in their conservation efforts.

But all is not so rosy. Many offenders, aided by legal loopholes, go scot-free. Though the Wildlife Protection Act is strong, enforcement is a problem. "Offenders get saved easily," says Dushyant Singh of Kankani. BTF has demanded that the government set up special courts for wildlife cases for speedy justice, so that environmental offences don't take a backseat in courts. The outfit also has to constantly contend with farmers' complaints, as wild animals, specially nilgai, have been destroying their crops. "But we will overlook that. There has been a 60 per cent drop in the population of deer and blackbuck and they may soon become endangered. We have to keep that in mind," says Rampal.

Meanwhile, Salman's fate still hangs in the balance, having been moved from one bench of the court to another for hearing. Life is not going to be easy for him even if he gets bail. He is a repeat offender, and is involved in two other pending wildlife violation cases. In one of them, he was awarded a one-year prison sentence, against which he had filed a revision petition. The case involving Tabu, Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre and Neelam as co-accused, which is to come up for hearing, could be the worst.

The Bishnois say they have no personal issues with the star. There is no attempt to stop the release of his films. If he comes here for shooting a film they will not hamper his work either. What if he were to plead and make amends? "On his release last time he had promised to rebuild the jail's bathrooms and to arrange Rs 40,000 for the bail of his cellmate Mahesh. Has he done that?" asks Budhnagar. "How can we trust him?" Nor can the deer, chinkara and blackbuck.