OUR CORRESPONDENT
KOKRAJHAR: Wildlife conservationists and NGOs working for the protection of nature and wildlife have expressed serious concern over the release of eight out of nine traffickers from jail after two months of imprisonment. As many as nine smugglers of endangered golden langur, including a Bangladeshi national from Dhaka, were apprehended by the police and Forest Department in a check at Kashikotra National Highway in Chirang district on June 20 and sent to jail. However, information received said that on July 18, eight of them were released.
It may be mentioned that 8 endangered golden langurs were rescued from an international trafficking network in Chirang on June 20 jointly by the Forest Department and Chirang police. One of the golden langurs illegally brought from Sikhna Jwhwlao National Park in Kokrajhar died due to suffocation, while seven others were released back to the park after scientific rehabilitation.
Conscious citizens expressed concern, as according to Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, smuggling endangered Schedule-I species like the golden langur is punishable with a minimum jail term of 3 years, extendable to 7 years, plus a fine of not less than Rs 25,000.
The nine arrested jailed golden langur smugglers from Sikhna Jwhwlao National Park were Jamal Ali from Dhaka; Alamgir Molla, Fakir Chand Mondal, Khalek Mondal, Latibul Sheikh, and Injamamul Hoque Mondal from West Bengal; and Pinkush Narzary, Ranjit Narzary, and Jackson Biswakarma from the Bengtol area of Chirang district.
It is learnt that only the Bangladeshi national, Jamal Ali, is still lodged in jail due to his inability to produce a valid passport.
Bodoland Golden Langur Association (BGLA), an active conservation group of golden langurs and nature, is among the organisations that expressed serious concern over the release of the smugglers.
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