An additional sessions court in Sukkur has sentenced a fisherman to 5 year rigorous imprisonment for killing a rare specie of blind Indus dolphin.
Fisherman Munawer Mirani caught a blind dolphin From Korahi water channel of Sukkur Barrage in 2021, and did not sent it back in the water channel. Consequently, the endangered dolphin died.
A case was registered against Mirani at a police station in Sukkur under relevant provisions of Conservation, Preservation and Protection Act 2020.
On Thursday, the court imposed a fine of Rs. 250,000 for killing the endangered species. According to available details, the accused fisherman obtained bail in the case but the court orded to arrest him after the sentence was pronounced. The court relied on strong evidence produced before it by the prosecution, and held that the prosecution had proved the accusation beyond reasonable doubt.
The accused, in his statement under section 342 of CRPC, contended that he had not killed the mammal deliberately. The blind dolphin is known as Bilan – ٻلھڻ – and was declared the ‘Queen of Indus River’. The specie of Dolphin commonly found in South Asia is platanisa, but it is believed that the species of Dolphin in Indus River lose its eye sight.
According to an estimation, the total number of rare Blind Indus Dolphin is around 1,18,000 but wildlife experts fear that it might reduce if concrete measures were not taken. On the other hand, this decision of the court has been termed as a landmark judgement towards protection of the rare species.
