TARUN BHARAT SANGH ALWAR Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The contemner is present in Court. We have heard Shri V. R. Reddy, Additional Solicitor General for the prosecution and Shri B.R.L. Iyengar, learned Senior Counsel for the accused-contemner. The charge against the contemner is, indeed, serious.

(2.) In the writ petition, Tarun Bharat Sangh, an organisation of environmental activists moved this Court complaining that there was a large scale devastation of the environment in "Sariska Tiger National Park" where large scale mining operations were illegally permitted by the State Government within the protected area. In the writ petition, we directed a Committee headed by a retired Judge of a High Court to go into some of the disputed questions and make a report to this Court. We also directed the petitioner organisation to assist the committee.

(3.) On 26-11-1991, the committee proposed to inspect the mining areas and Rajinder Singh, Secretary of the petitioner-organisation was required to accompany the committee. What happened at the spot had better be narrated in the words of Rajinder Singh himself: