Mohanlal seeks to declare ivory in his possession
Actor Mohanlal, who had been booked for the alleged illegal possession of ivory, has approached the Kerala Forest department to declare its possession and seek
Actor Mohanlal, who had been booked for the alleged illegal possession of ivory, has approached the Kerala Forest department to declare its possession and seek immunity from legal action. Mohanlal made use of the recent one-time amnesty scheme offered by the Forest department to declare the wildlife article in his possession following an observation of the Kerala High Court. A senior functionary of the Forest department recently carried out an inquiry regarding the wildlife article in possession of Mr. Mohanlal at his Kochi residence. During the inquiry, which was carried out under Section 41 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, the actor was questioned about the manner in which he came into possession of the article, the age of the article, and the reasons for not declaring it earlier, sources said.
Amnesty notification Earlier, a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court headed by Justice A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar, while cancelling the ownership certificates issued to the actor for two pairs of ivory and 13 idols and declaring the process of issuing him the certificates null and void, had observed that the State government could issue a fresh notification for persons or a class of persons to declare the stock and obtain immunity from legal action. The Act empowers the Chief Wildlife Warden to issue an ownership certificate to any person who is in lawful possession of any wild animal or animal article.
The amnesty notification issued by the State government is also under legal challenge with the petitioners in the illegal ivory possession case approaching the Kerala High Court stating that only the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change was empowered by the Act to issue such an order. Even though the Division Bench had declared the ownership certificates issued to Mr. Mohanlal null and void, the department has not initiated any legal action for the illegal possession of idols. Earlier too, the Forest department had looked the other way regarding the ivory idols, though it booked a case for the possession of two sets of ivory.
It was during an Income-Tax raid at the actor’s house that the reported illegal possession of ivory surfaced. Mohanlal has challenged a trial court order, which rejected the State government’s decision to drop the prosecution proceedings against him, at the High Court. Another petition of the actor to quash the entire proceedings in the case against him is also pending before the High Court.
The BriefWire