Cuttack: Orissa High court seeks Kendrapada SP report on patrol boat attack in Gahirmatha

CUTTACK: The Orissa high court on Tuesday directed the superintendent of police (SP), Kendrapada, to submit the current status of all the cases linked to the recent attack on a patrol boat on the Gahirmatha coast, where the world’s largest rookery of Olive Ridley sea turtles is located.
The bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice B P Routray said, “Unless the past cases, including the present one, are carried to their logical end, there will be no deterrence against similar illegal trawler activities which are taking place year after year in the area”.
The HC was hearing the suo motu PIL it had registered on the alarming death of the Olive Ridleys along the Odisha coast. Amicus curiae Mohit Agarwal had earlier submitted a report on the attack at about 10.30 pm on March 15 night. The bench sought from the SP the status report citing the list of cases registered since 2011 against the family members of the boat owner that was involved in the March 15 attack, a case relating which had been registered in Talachua Marine police station. The list of cases was enclosed in the affidavit filed by the divisional forest officer, Mangrove forest division (wildlife), Rajnagar.
The bench posted the case to May 5, while directing the SP Kendrapada to submit the status report by then. The amicus curiae’s report said the patrolling team of the Gahirmatha wildlife range and the APR police staff detected a fishing trawler in the sanctuary area. When the said trawler was attempted to be intercepted, the crew members of the trawler attacked the patrolling staff with sharp weapons. As a result, five patrolling staff sustained injuries.