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INDIA'S GLOBAL MAGAZINE

Crime - Tiger Pataudi allegedly hunted the protected Black Buck





Cricket legend Tiger Pataudi was supposedly a nawab of a different class. But after the Jhajjhar incident, where he allegedly hunted the protected Black Buck, it seems he wasn’t so different a nawab
By Nishtha Shukla


	Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi is used to applause. In his teens when he shot a tiger the aristocracy applauded, and nicknamed him Tiger. When at 21, he became the world’s youngest national captain, he was the toast of the cricketing world. When he led India to its first ever Test win, he was the poster of Indian sports. But on June 3, when he shot an endangered Black Buck—Antilope Cervicapra—and two rabbits, nobody was clapping. On June 5, a first information report was registered against him and seven other accused after the police recovered the carcasses of the black buck and two rabbits from the vehicle in which they were travelling. After the Haryana Police seized the carcasses from his car and let Pataudi go, the jeers could be heard loud and clear. The newspapers, the public, and the environmentalists wanted his head. Tiger was a hunted man. He was asked to appear before court, but he would rather remain in the shadows. Pataudi’s petition to the court he said the June 5 complaint was a “highly belated one”. The vehicle used by the hunters, registered in the 65-year-old Pataudi’s name, had been impounded from his bungalow in Vasant Vihar in south Delhi. With Pataudi dodging the police as well as the media for almost two weeks, the case took a different turn. On June 18 he surfaced and surrendered before the court after the high court rejected his request for anticipatory bail. The Haryana Police were given custody of the nawab along with the seven associates later. In his two days of custody, the nawab was kept in good condition. The accused were booked under the sections 9, 39 and 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act and if found guilty, could face a jail term of up to seven years and a fine of Rs 25,000. After two days in custody, Pataudi complained of uneasiness and chest pain and was taken to the civil hospital. Following which the nawab was granted bail by Chief Judicial Magistrate Sudhir Jiwan on the condition of furnishing a bond for Rs 50,000 and a surety of a similar amount. The co-accused in the case are also out on bail now.



UNITED CLAN : While Tiger was on the run, wife Sharmila and the children stayed solidly behind him

	The incident sparked interest across society. Wildlife activists said the guilty should be booked, however rich or powerful they may be. Naresh Kadyan, a leading animal-rights activist, said that he would approach the court seeking cancellation of the bail. His said he would like to first seek legal advice on how Pataudi’s bail in the high court was rejected and a lower court granted it. For the Bishnois of the Jhajjar area, “killing a black buck is like killing our Guru”. They threatened to launch an agitation if Pataudi was not arrested. Akhil Bharatiya Bishnoi Jeev Raksha Samiti general secretary, Sahab Ram Bishnoi, said they would soon be meeting Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and urge him to ensure the guilty don’t go scot-free. The man’s family stood by him. Wife Sharmila Tagore, who is also the chairperson of the censor board, said, “I always had faith in the judiciary but, more importantly, I believed in God. He saw us through this.” The family has, however, decided to remain quiet about the issue.



	Tiger Pataudi was earlier been in the news for shooting birds in the protected forests of Hokarsar in Jammu & Kashmir. In 1998, his son Saif Ali Khan was also involved in a case where Salman Khan was accused of shooting a Black Buck near Jodhpur. Saif celebrated Father’s Day without Pataudi this time, “This incident has brought me closer to my dad. I was scared of him earlier. Now when he’s landed in trouble I feel protective.”The case has also dampened the success of his recent release Parineeta. Younger sister Soha, who recently entered Bollywood, was in Italy shooting for David Dhawan’s film Shaadi No.1. According to reports, wildlife officials have not been informed and the Haryana Police have let off all accused after just filing a report in the Jhajjar police station. Even their weapons and vehicles were not confiscated. The apparent laxity on the part of the Jhajjar Police even finds mention in Pataudi’s petition to the court. The shikaar tradition of the Raj days seems to have stayed with the nawabs even as their titles have not. The police were tipped off during the Raj to ignore expeditions by the rich, famous or powerful. Let’s hope the same doesn’t continue with the law and well-meaning activists in place today.

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