In one of the strangest incidents, Indian police have arrested four men for allegedly gang-raping, killing, cooking and eating a lizard in one of the protected forest reserves. the strictest security in the country.
The incident occurred on March 29 in the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve, western Indian state of Maharashtra, according to
The forest’s camera traps, used to track tigers, caught the men accused of trespassing in the reserve’s Chandoli National Park. Forest officials arrested the men between April 1 and 5 and found photos and videos on their phones of them gang-raping a lizard, then killing it. and eat it.
“I have never witnessed a crime like this before,” said forest officer Vishal Mali. “The men were in their 20s and 30s, and they seemed to be doing it for fun. There is no religious or black magic agenda.”
The men were identified as Sandeep Pawar, Mangesh Kamtekar, Akshay Kamtekar and Ramesh Ghag, all locals. They were charged under the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. A local court granted them bail last week.
The report said India’s lizards are endangered and are a legally protected species. Violators can be sentenced to seven years in prison. A report by wildlife advocacy groups documented 82 cases of animal sexual abuse in India from 2010 to 2020. This number is out of a total of 500,000 cases of animal crimes. including torture and murder.
Most recent cases of animal sexual abuse include a man raping and killing a pregnant goat in southern India and a 60-year-old man raping a stray dog in last year.
While the suspects are out on bail, Mali said photos and videos of the incident have been sent to the forensic laboratory to build evidence in the case. Forestry officials are also seeking legal advice to charge the accused under a law that criminalizes unnatural sex between humans and animals.
“Not only is this cruel, but there is also a risk of zoonotic disease transmission from this case. There are concerns about men contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and other infections from their actions,” Mali said.
Mali said manual monitoring of more than 1,000 square kilometers of protected areas is a challenge for forest guards, but there are plans to deploy a new special protection force. “We will have a team of 100 people to protect the facility more effectively,” he said.