sport has continued even after the enactment of WLPA with a significant addition in the hunting by neo-rich farmers, rich urbanites, retired govt. officials and ex- Servicemen, as one of the means to rise in social status to level of the Jahagirdar and upper caste Maratha families. The hunters use licensed high-power rifles and shot guns acquired for sport, crop protection, or for self- protection purpose. They hire locals to drive out pigs from hiding places in bush or farms to the point where the hunters are waiting at pre-selected point for the kill. The hunting also involves other wildlife such as barking deer, sambar, hare, pea fowl etc. The meat is shared and distributed among friends, and families. Portion of the kill is also given to the people who assist part in the hunt.
Bollywood superstar Salman Khan who shot antelopes for fun in 1998 is the most famous of the lawbreakers. A Jodhpur court has convicted him under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, which carries maximum punishment of six years and minimum one- year jail term. But in 2021 he still remains free, with his fans cursing the Bishnoi villagers who caught him red- handed. But the poor and the weak are terrified of the law so that farmers over much of the country have been helplessly suffering from extensive wild pig damage of their crops and occasionally injuries and even deaths of people. So, people may simply ignore the law and there is a report from Kerala that in villages where villagers periodically conduct communal hunts for wild pigs, the wild pig damage is under control; elsewhere the damage has been on the increase. Another glaring instance of violation of WLPA is all over the North-easterm states
45
