Farmer arrested after nilgai dies on electrified wire fence near Nagpur's Digdoh

A nilgai died of electrocution in a field in Digdoh (Pande) village, under the Hingna forest range in Nagpur. The Forest Department says a farmer had allegedly passed electric current through the GI wires put up around his field. The farmer has been arrested, and a court has sent him to judicial custody till November 20.

According to the Forest Department, a team of forest staff was on routine patrol on November 5 in the Kawadas sub-range of the Hingna forest range. In Mauza Digdoh (Pande), they noticed something amiss around the field at Survey No. 89. On inspection, they found that current was running through the GI wires put up on all sides to protect the field.

A nilgai had already died after touching the wires. On learning of the current and the animal's death, the Forest Department team reached the spot and began an investigation. The initial inquiry found that electric current had been passed through the wires around the field.

Treating the matter as serious, the Forest Department registered a forest offence against the farmer under Sections 9, 39 and 50 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The accused was then arrested. He was produced in the Hingna court on November 6. After hearing, the court ordered him to be sent to judicial custody till November 20.

The action has caused alarm among those who harm wildlife by illegally passing current through fences in fields.

Farmers commonly fence their fields to protect crops from wild animals. But some people, in the name of protection, connect power directly to these wires. The practice is highly dangerous. Not only nilgai, wild boar and other wildlife but also farmers, labourers, passers-by and domestic animals can be caught by it, and a major accident can result. Besides the loss of wildlife, legal action can also be taken against the person concerned in such cases.

The Hingna forest range office has appealed to citizens and farmers not to pass electric current through GI wires or by any other means near fields. According to the department, such illegal measures can pose a grave threat to humans and domestic animals as well as wildlife.

The Forest Department has also said that anyone who notices poaching of wildlife, illegal use of electricity or any other suspicious activity connected with wildlife in an area should inform it immediately. The department says public cooperation is essential to protect wildlife and maintain the natural balance.