More than 130 birds and animals were allegedly slaughtered on Saturday in a pocket of East Burdwan during a hunting festival that animal lovers said was held in “complete violation” of a Calcutta High Court order.

The court had in 2019 banned hunting festivals in the districts of south Bengal. On February 20 last year, a bench had said the indiscriminate hunting of wild animals “is as heinous and culpable a crime as the offence of murder”.

The toll in Saturday’s hunt, an annual ritual by tribals from across south Bengal, in Ketugram I block, around 15km from Katwa, included members of more than 20 species, said members of an organisation whose court petition had led to the ban on hunting festivals. Members and volunteers of the Human and Environment Alliance League (HEAL) track hunters across south Bengal during hunting festivals.

“More than 130 poached wild animals and birds were found with just two teams of hunters at Ketugram I, East Burdwan. It clearly indicates that the multiple hunting parties would have killed a huge number of animals,” said Meghna Banerjee of HEAL.

The species to which the slain animals belonged included those protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, such as the jungle cat, grey mongoose, Bengal monitor lizard and the golden monitor lizard. The bulk of the kill was made up of birds, including a glossy ibis, a prize catch for bird photographers.

“The hunters sneaked (into the hunting grounds) during the early hours and were spotted by our team members only late in the afternoon, when they were returning with the kill. They were armed with spears, sickles, catapults, and bows and arrows,” Banerjee said.

The forest department and the local police swung into action in the evening, allegedly after the hunters had had a field day. Thirty people were arrested late on Saturday but got bail on Sunday, police and forest officials said.

“It is extremely unfortunate that such mass slaughter of wildlife is happening in blatant breach of the orders of Calcutta High Court, which formed ‘humane committees’ to deal specifically with such mass hunting events,” Banerjee said.

Through its judgment of February 20 last year, the division bench of Justices Arijit Banerjee and Apurba Sinha Ray had constituted humane committees for five districts — West Midnapore, Bankura, Purulia, Jhargram and Murshidabad — to “ensure implementation” of the 2019 order banning the hunting festivals.

The order came on a contempt petition moved by HEAL alleging that ritual hunting was continuing in violation of the 2019 judgment.

In another order, dated October 14, 2023, the bench brought East Burdwan and Birbhum under the ambit of the humane committees.

“In view of the fact that most of the perpetrators apprehended by the forest department are from the districts of Birbhum and East Burdwan, there will be a similar committee (each) also for the districts of Birbhum and East Burdwan,” the bench said.

The committee for each district is headed by the district judge who is the chairperson of the District Legal Services Authority.

The district magistrate and the superintendent of police are among the members.

The high court appointed Tiasa Adhya, a Calcutta-based conservationist, as a common member of all the committees.

"While the committees in the remaining districts are functional, the one in East Burdwan is virtually non-existent," she said.

"There has not been a single meeting. A member of the tribal community is supposed to be on the panel. But in East Burdwan, no one from the tribal community has been nominated."

In a set of detailed guidelines, the division bench had asked the forest department, police, district administration and the railways to work together to curb hunting. The humane committees were asked to hold awareness campaigns for local people round the year.

Police officers and foresters are supposed to set up checkpoints and pickets on the roads leading to the forests on the hunting days.

None of this was done in East Burdwan, Adhya alleged.

Amandeep, the East Burdwan superintendent of police, told this newspaper: "Thirty people have been arrested. We are working with the forest department."

Debasish Pradhan, divisional forest officer of Birbhum who is also in charge of East Burdwan, said the place where the hunting took place was not a protected forest area and there were, therefore, challenges with enforcement.

"But we acted as soon as we got the information. Around 30 people were arrested. They have got bail but we will continue the case against them," he said.

Debal Ray, chief wildlife warden of Bengal, said the forest department was committed to protecting wildlife. "The law will take its course against the hunters," he said.