Wildlife Protection Act of 1972

The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 refers to a sweeping package of legislation enacted in 1972 by the Government of India. Prior to 1972, India only had five designated national parks. Among other reforms, the Act established schedules of protected plant and animal species; hunting or otherwise harvesting these species was largely outlawed.

The Act provides for the protection of Wild animals, birds and plants and for matters connected therewith or ancillary or incidental thereto. It extends to the whole of India, except the State of Jammu and Kashmir which has its own wildife act. It has six schedules which give varying degrees of protection, with absolute protection being provided under Schedule I and part II of schedule II with the highest penalties prescribed for offences under these schedules and Species listed in the Sch IV are also protected but the penalties are much lower, with the enforcement authorities having the power to compound offences (as in they impose fines on the offenders).

Definitions under this Act (Section 2)

* "animal" includes amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles, and their young, and also includes, in the cases of birds and reptiles, their eggs,
* "animal article" means an article made from any captive animal or wild animal, other than vermin, and includes an article or object in which the whole or any part of such animal [has been used and ivory imported into India and an article made therefrom.
* "hunting", includes, :(a) capturing, killing, poisoning, snaring, and trapping or any wild animal and every attempt to do so,:(b) driving any wild animal for any of purposes specified in sub clause:(c) injuring or destroying or taking any part of the body of any such animal, or in the case of wild birds or reptiles, damaging the eggs of such birds or reptiles, or disturbing the eggs or nests of such birds or reptiles;
* "taxidermy", with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means the curing, preparation or preservation of trophies;
* "trophy" means the whole or any part of any captive animal or wild animal, other than vermin, which has been kept or preserved by any means, whether artificial or natural, and includes,:(a) rugs, skins, and specimens of such animals mounted in whole or in part through a process of taxidermy, and:(b) antler, horn, rhinoceros horn, feather, nail, tooth, musk, eggs, and nests;
* "uncured trophy" means the whole or any part of any captive animal, other than vermin, which has not undergone a process of taxidermy, and includes a [freshly killed wild animal ambergris, musk and other animal products ] ;
* "vermin" means any wild animal specified in Sch.V
* "wildlife" includes any animal, bees, butterflies, crustacean, fish and moths; and aquatic or land vegetation which forms part of any habitat;

hunting (section 9)

Hunting is prescribed in section 9, this includes the intent to hunt and this section describes the offence hunting / intent to hunt in protected areas too..

ownership (Section 40 & 42)

Regarding Ownership issues,, and trade licences

Power to search and arrest (Section 50)

Refer the act per se for more details,,

Penalties (Section 51)

Penalties are prescribed in section 51 and please note that enforcement can be done by all enforcement agencies who have the mandate and this includes Forest Dept, Police, CBI, Customs, not the army yet mind you,,, Chargesheets can be filed directly by the Forest Department,, while the other enforcement agencies often due to the lack of technical expertise hand over the case to the Forest Dept. Different States of India have different takes on this,,and its better to refer the concerned state laws regarding this ..

References

* [http://www.helplinelaw.com/docs/wildlife/index.php The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972]
* [http://www.advocatekhoj.com/library/lawareas/wild/index.php?Title=WildLifeProtection Wild Life Protection and Prohibition]
* [http://www.envfor.nic.in/legis/legis.html#R Wildlife Legislations, including - “The Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act” from the Official website of: Government of India, Ministry of Environment & Forests]
* [http://www.envfor.nic.in/legis/legis.html “Legislations on Environment, Forests, and Wildlife” from the Official website of: Government of India, Ministry of Environment & Forests]
* [http://www.envfor.nic.in/legis/legis.html#S “India’s Forest Conservation Legislation: Acts, Rules, Guidelines”, from the Official website of: Government of India, Ministry of Environment & Forests]
* [http://www.envfor.nic.in/ Official website of: Government of India, Ministry of Environment & Forests]