Delhi: A Jaipur-based art gallery owner was convicted and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for trying to illegally export shawls made from shahtoosh, hair of the critically endangered Tibetan antelope. The 17-year-long case was a joint effort of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, the Customs department, the Wildlife Institute of India, and the Central Bureau of Investigation. It was the first time that a wildlife case was prosecuted through CBI.
A press release by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change on 15 April said that the judgment was delivered on 12 March, in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court, 17 years after the case was first registered in December 2008.
The accused was sentenced to three years of simple imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000 under Section 49B(1)/51(1A) of the Wildlife Protection Act, with additional two-year terms running concurrently under Sections 40 and 49. The seized shawls will become government property.
Tibetan antelopes, or ‘chiru’, are native to the high-altitude plateaus of Tibet and have a small presence in India’s Ladakh region. They are known for their extremely fine underfleece. However, unlike pashmina or wool, which can be sheared from goats and sheep, Tibetan antelopes are killed to obtain shahtoosh wool.
Shahtoosh trade is officially banned in India, as the Tibetan antelope is protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, which is the highest level of protection accorded to any animal in the country. However, because of the similarity in shape and texture, shahtoosh is often smuggled out of the country under the guise of pashmina, a legal and similarly fine wool.
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How the case was cracked
It all started when the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) identified a consignment of over 1,200 shawls at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in December 2008. While the accused said he had bought pashmina shawls, the WCCB suspected it could be shahtoosh and sent samples to the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) for further analysis.
The difference between shahtoosh and pashmina is very difficult to identify with the naked eye. In certain labs, like the WII’s, microscopic study can reveal that pashmina fibres are minutely thicker than shahtoosh. DNA testing can also determine whether microfibres belong to pashmina goats or Tibetan antelopes.
WII’s test in this case revealed Tibetan antelope hair in 41 shawls after two rounds of testing.
“What makes this case unique is the sustained coordination between four agencies for nearly 17 years,” read the press release by MOEFCC. “The Customs Department managed the evidence chain. WII’s Wildlife Forensic Cell gave scientific evidence with reports on seized shawls. The then Inspector Sanjay Dubey of CBI was the Investigating Officer, handling everything from collecting evidence to court arguments.”
It was one of the first wildlife cases CBI was involved in — and has now officially become the first the agency has prosecuted.
Most shahtoosh is not produced in India since Tibetan antelopes are mainly found and hunted in Tibet’s Changtang region, according to research by the Wildlife Protection Society of India. However, raw shahtoosh wool makes its way through the shared border with Tibet to Kashmir and Ladakh, where the weaving centres are.
Shahtoosh trade is also banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), to which India is a signatory.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)