B’desh lawyer seeks Tk 1cr over Indian jumbo Bangabahur death

Dhaka, Aug 19 (PTI) A Supreme Court lawyer in Bangladeshhas petitioned the High Court here to order the government torecover Tk 1 crore as compensation from those responsible forthe death of ‘Bangabahadur’, a wild Indian elephant which wasswept away 1,700 km by raging floods in the Brahmaputra river. Eunus Ali Akond pleaded the court to order the governmentto constitute a judicial inquiry to probe the incident. In his petition, Akond said that the government isresponsible for protecting and preserving the environment andwildlife under Article 18 (A) of the Constitution. The government failed to discharge its constitutionalduties as it could not rescue the elephant, he has allegedaccording to a report in The Dailystar. He pleaded the court to order the government to recover Tk1 crore (about USD 1.27 lakh) from those responsible for theelephant’s death. Bangabahadur (Bengal’s Hero), a fully grown male elephantwhich weighed 4 tonnes, died of heart attack in the northernJamalpur district, about 200 km from capital Dhaka on Tuesday. It was separated from its herd on June 27 in Assam – wheremonsoon floods have made life difficult – and got washed awayin the streams of mighty Brahmaputra to downstream Bangladesh. On its way from India, it was forced to stay in marshes asthe highlands were occupied by flood-hit people who wereunwilling to let the frightened animal share their shelters. Forest officials in Bangladesh tranquilised it four times. Witnesses and people in the neighbourhood suspected thatexcessive tranquillising might have partly led to its death. Akond has served a notice to the government, allegingBangabahadur might have died due to tranquiliser overdose. On Tuesday, the Forest Department as per the directives ofthe Ministry of Environment and Forest formed a five-memberprobe body to investigate the cause of Bangabahadur’s death. Bangabahadur was buried on the day of his death at Koyra -the village where he was captured and died – following anautopsy. PTI ABH AKJABH