Bigg Boss Kannada contestant Varthur Santhosh, who was arrested by the Forest department officials on October 22, for wearing tiger claw pendant on the show was granted bail on Friday. The department booked a suo-moto case against Santhosh - a celebrated farmer from Bengaluru known for rearing the Hallikar (native) breed of cattle - under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, which makes wearing or displaying any animal parts a punishable offence. The accused was remanded to 14-day judicial custody before he got the bail in a city court.
Interestingly, Santhosh’s arrest has led to a public outrage against the forest department as netizens demanded that the officials and the government immediately arrest the celebrities allegedly guilty of the same offence – wearing the tiger claw pendant. Now, the celebrity actors and politicians in Karnataka are losing their sleep over their old social media posts (photographs) flaunting tiger claw pendants going viral. While any publicity is considered good publicity, this one is attracting the wrath of the forest department.
While, Santhosh was arrested from the studio (set) of the popular reality show hosted by Sandalwood actor Kiccha Sudeep after some viewers complained to the forest department, the department is soft pedalling on the issue concerning the high and the mighty, lamented netizens.
The netizens fished out old social media photographs of actors, pontiffs, politicians and their kith and kin flaunting the tiger claw pendant and sought action.
The long list of offenders included Sandalwood actors Darshan, Nikhil Kumaraswamy (son of former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy), actor and Rajya Sabha (BJP) MP Jaggesh, film producer Rockline Venkatesh, Mrinal, son of Women and Child Welfare minister Laxmi Hebbalkar and Sumit, son of Athani MLA Laxman Savadi. Ironically, a few forest officers were also found to be in possession of the tiger claw pendants. Kalasa (Chikmagalur) DRFO Darshan was arrested by his department colleagues.
The forest officials also searched the premises of the actors and politicians following the backlash from animal activists and netizens.
While most politician and actors claimed that the pendants were gifted to them by their friends and the tiger claws in them were fake and made of plastic, the forest officials claimed that they had examined the claws and confiscated the pendants to be examined by the forensic team to ascertain its authenticity.
BJP MP Jaggesh has filed a petition in the Karnataka High Court seeking to quash the notice issued to him, though he has confirmed that the tiger claw in his possession were real and gifted to him by his late mother.
The Wildlife (Protection) Act, of 1972 (last amended in 2022), came into effect in April 2023. It has banned killing wild animals like tigers, lions, deer, and possessing or selling their claws, skins or horns. Also, Article 51 A (g) of the Constitution states that it shall be the fundamental duty of every citizen to protect and improve the natural environment including forests and wildlife.
Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre noted that the government, in 2003, had given an opportunity to the citizens to declare if they possessed any wildlife articles like trophies, skin or claws within 180 days. “Similarly, we are planning to give people two months to surrender the wildlife articles that are in their possession either through purchase or inheritance. However, we will take a call after seeking legal advice,” said Khandre.
BJP national general secretary C.T. Ravi slammed the government saying the “tiger claw row” and the arrest of the farmer was a “big drama” being enacted by the ruling Congress to divert people’s attention from the IT raids that had put the Congress leaders in the dock. The BJP has been alleging that the huge stashes of cash recovered from the contractors’ houses were poll funds raised by the Congress government for the upcoming five-state polls.
