The Legal Status Of The “Man-Eater”: A Study Of Colonial Precedent And Statutory Regulation Under The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972
Upasana Ghosh, B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) at ICFAI University, Dehradun
ABSTRACT
This article traces how Indian law has authorised the killing of dangerous, “man-eating” wildlife, with insight into three cases from colonial India: the Leopard of Rudraprayag (1918-1926), Champawat tigress (1900-1907) and the Chowgarh Tigers (1925-1930). It situates these hunts within the colonial status of the Wild Birds and Animals Protection Act (1912), Indian Forest Act (1878 and 1927) and Arms Act (1878). The British regime largely treated dangerous man-eating animals as informal security and vermin-control measures. It was further legitimised through bounties and executive discretion rather than the codified procedure we have today.
The analysis further shifts to the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, focusing on Section 9’s general hunting ban and Section 11’s tight laws on exceptions to the hunting of dangerous animals under Schedule-I, in “good faith”. It also focuses on judicial interventions such as the Uttarakhand High Court’s 2016 ruling, curbing private “man-eater hunts.” The paper also draws attention to contemporary gaps such as ambiguous statutory limits, weak documentation of lethal records and the challenges between wildlife conservation and human safety, as demonstrated by a hypothetical present-day Rudraprayag scenario. A comparative study of Nepal’s NPWC Act, 1973 alongside India’s administrative legislations of species, wildlife and forest management.
Keywords: Man-eater, wildlife conservation, human safety, wildlife protection, leopard, tiger.
