In cheering news as India celebrates World Environment Day, a judge in Rajasthan’s Pratapgarh district, while hearing a bail plea, directed four men accused of felling trees to plant 270 saplings of ‘aamla’ gooseberry to compensate for the loss.
District and sessions judge Rajendra Kumar Sharma ordered the four — Rama alias Ramlal Teli, Jaswant Dhobi, Dinesh Teli and Mohammad Hussain — on Monday to also provide evidence of the survival of the saplings every three months. The men had chopped down 27 trees in a forest area, the Hindustan Times said.
The judge said keeping them in jail would serve no purpose, and sought to evoke love for the environment among them through his unique sentence, while granting them bail.
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The number of saplings is 10 times that of the trees they are accused of felling.
“They need to produce evidence in court every three months about the survival of the 270 trees. The trees cannot be cut without the permission of this court,” Sharma said.
“Keeping them in jail would serve no purpose. It is better to arouse love for the environment in them. When they raise 270 trees, they will obviously feel the love for them and may not damage to the environment again.”
The trees had been planted in 1997 during a drive.
