Calcutta High Court Provides Relief To Family Of Man Killed In Tiger Attack, Says Compensation Can't Be Denied Even If He Transgressed Law

The Calcutta High Court has directed the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Head of Forest Force), Government of West Bengal, to disburse a compensation of Rs.5,00,000/- in favour of the petitioner, whose husband died after being attacked by a tiger in the Sundarbans area.

In observing that compensation could not be denied even if the petitioner’s husband had transgressed some laws in entering the forest ‘core’ area to earn his livelihood, a single bench of Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharya held:

Even if, for argument’s sake, the petitioner’s husband is construed to have transgressed the law for earning his livelihood and stepped into the core area (which, however, is not established by any document whatsoever), it cannot be the law that the family of the poor victim in such cases will be deprived of compensation merely for transgression of law as perceived by the authorities. The cause of death of her husband being a wild animal attack in the Sundarban area, the respondent authorities are duty bound to pay compensation for such demise to the petitioner, who is the wife of the said deceased.

It was the case of the petitioner that she was a resident of the Sundarban area which was infested with tigers and other wild animals.

Petitioner submitted that her husband had, in the course of business, been attacked by a tiger and that the post mortem report also indicated that the cause of death was due to injuries caused ‘by a big animal, like a tiger, etc.’

Petitioner argued that when she approached the authorities for the statutory compensation of Rs 5 lakhs for death caused in such cases, she was refused the same on the ground that no such tiger attack had been recorded in the Range offices of the Sundarban Tiger Reserve.

Respondent authorities submitted that none of the Range offices or forest camps had recorded any incidents of death by tiger attacks and as such the authorities had no records of the petitioner’s husband’s death, rendering the question for compensation moot.

Respondents submitted there were various core and buffer areas of the forest, and that if the deceased had entered into a core area without the permission of the forest authorities, it was not the liability of the respondents to grant compensation for such an illegal act.

Court perused a State government order of February 2021, which indicated that an ex gratia grant of Rs 5 lakhs would be made available to families of those affected by loss of life due to wild animal attacks.

None of the said orders or communications distinguishes between such demise in the core areas or the buffer areas of the forest, it was clarified.

Court noted that the deceased had been admitted to a government hospital after the attack, and a post mortem report had been issued by the Superintended of the Alipore Police Case Hospital, leaving no room for the respondents to object to the veracity of the same.

Accordingly, the contentions of the authorities were refuted, and a compensation of Rs 5 lakh was directed to be paid to the petitioner within 13^th October 2023.

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Cal) 313

Case: Shantibala Naskar Vs. State of West Bengal and others

Case No: WPA No. 18598 of 2023

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