New Delhi:
The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the petition filed by notorious poacher Sansar Chand challenging his conviction and a five-year sentence in a case of smuggling animal parts.
The poacher had appealed against the ruling of the Rajasthan High Court which had found him guilty of smuggling claws, skin, teeth and other animal parts in Bhilwara in 2003.
An apex court bench comprising Justices Markandey Katju and T S Thakur did not find merit in the appeal filed by Sansar Chand, who has been booked under dozens of cases under the Wildlife Act.
The apex court, during the hearing of the case earlier this month, had slammed Sansar Chand for selling skin of tigers and leopards and said the day was not far when human skin would be sold.
"You are selling the skin of tigers and leopards. Tomorrow, you would sell even human skin. In this way, the population of tigers and leopards would be wiped out in the country. There would be no tiger left in Sariska," the court had said.
While pronouncing the judgement on Wednesday, Justice Markandey Katju observed that "Shera was the symbol of the recent Commonwealth Games, but ironically Shera has been almost exterminated in our country. The Sher Khan of Rudyard Kipling's 'Jungle Book', which once abounded in India, is rarely to be seen today." (With PTI inputs)