AMBIRSAHEB BALAMIYA PATIL Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The accused in this case has been convicted under Section 25, Clause (i), of the Indian Forest Act (VII of 1878). He is found to have successfully tracked and shot a tiger without a license in a reserved forest to which the rules made by the Local Government under Section 25 (i) and Section 31, Clause (j), have been duly applied.

(2.) The case for the accused was that some of his cattle were killed by a tiger and that with a view to prevent further injury to his property he wanted to trace the tiger in the forest. Both the lower Courts have proceeded on the assumption that the accused s cattle were killed by a tiger; and from the arguments before us, it is clear that the accused s cattle were killed by a tiger and that his object in going to the forest and shooting the tiger was to prevent further injury to his property.

(3.) In dealing with the question of self-defence, the learned Magistrate in appeal seems to me to have taken a somewhat narrow view of its scope. It may be, as the learned Magistrate points out, that the accused went in search of the tiger and shot the animal, not to avert the attack by the animal on him but probably because he wanted to kill the animal. The point as to whether the accused shot the tiger to avert the attack by the animal on him but probably because he wanted to kill the animal. The point as to whether the accused shot the tiger to avert the attack by the animal on him or whether he found it, does not seem to me to be of any importance for the purpose of this case. Broadly speaking it is a case in which the accused, with a view to protect his property, went to the forest, tracked and shot the tiger. He did this, however, without a license as required by the rules to which I have referred, and the whole point in the case is whether the prohibition under Rule 3 (a) against hunting and shooting without a license is absolute. After a careful consideration of the rules, it seems to me that under Rule 3 (a) hunting and shooting are prohibited except under a license to be obtained from the conservator of forests. Such a license was not obtained.