UP school booked for keeping langur tied to tree on campus

A case against a private school here under the Wildlife (Protection) Act has been registered on a complaint by animal rights group PETA India, officials said on Thursday.

Regional Forest Officer (Sadar) Atul Tiwari added the complaint had been filed last week stating a langur was being detained tied to a tree with no authorization at Prasad Senior Secondary Public School on Maholi Road. 

District-level officer of the Social Forestry Division, Rajnikant Mittal, added that the allegations proved to be true after investigation and the Forest Department filed a case.

The langur was rescued and the case registered under sections 9 (forbids hunting of wild animals in Schedules I and II), 39 9stipulates that wild animals, except vermin, are property of the government under specific terms)and 51 (regulates the punishment for acts done in contravention of this act and any rule made hereunder) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

The animal will be presented to a court for legal custody proceedings prior to being moved to a habitat that will support it, he added.

Under the Act, the Indian langur has been declared a Schedule II protected species and its illegal captivity will attract a sentence of three to seven years of imprisonment, a fine of up to ₹1 lakh, or both.

PETA India's Anti-Cruelty Campaign Coordinator Shraddha Purohit stated the central government had made it clear by a 1998 amendment in the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, that monkeys and other wild animals cannot be employed for performance or trained for the same.