Gurugram: The Akhil Bhartiya Jeev Raksha Bishnoi Sabha—a registered society founded by members of the Bishnoi community that works for the protection of wildlife, particularly blackbucks—has appointed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi as the national president of its youth wing.
The body was founded in 1977 by the late environmentalist Sant Ram Bishnoi, cousin to Lawrence Bishnoi’s grandfather. It was run by members of his family until an election in 2022.
Lawrence, lodged in jail since 2014, stands accused in several cases of extortion and murder and is currently under probe by the National Investigation Agency as well as the police of several states.
His terror-crime syndicate, which he is said to run from jail, is allegedly involved in the murders of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala and NCP leader Baba Siddique. His gang is also suspected to be behind a firing incident outside Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s Bandra residence earlier this year, because of threats the actor has received in the past for his alleged involvement in the killing of two blackbucks in 1998. The Bishnoi community considers the blackbuck sacred.
The Bishnoi sabha’s decision was made at a meeting held on 20 October at the Bishnoi Temple in Abohar, Punjab. After the meeting, the body released a “certificate of appointment” bearing the signature and seal of Inderpal Bishnoi, national president of the Akhil Bhartiya Jeev Raksha Bishnoi Sabha.
“It is certified that Mr Lawrence Bishnoi, son of Mr Ravindra, resident of Dutranwali village, Abohar Tehsil, Fazilka district, Punjab, is appointed as the national president of the youth wing of the All India Jeev Raksha Bishnoi Sabha… Your responsibility is to advance the noble cause of wildlife protection and environmental conservation,” states the document which has been shared on social media by several members of the Bishnoi community.
“This is in honour of Mata Amrita Devi Bishnoi, who, along with 363 Bishnoi men and women, sacrificed their lives in 1730 to save khejri trees from being cut. Such an event is unparalleled in the world. This appointment is made in alignment with the principles of compassion for all beings and the teachings of Guru Jambheshwar Bhagwan. It is expected of you to carry out this responsibility with dedication and complete integrity,” it adds.
Speaking to ThePrint, Inderpal, a retired deputy district attorney from Haryana, confirmed the appointment and said the decision was taken because Lawrence has become a “youth icon” in the Bishnoi community and is considered the saviour of blackbucks by the community.
“This appointment holds significant value in light of Lawrence Bishnoi’s commitment towards wildlife protection and his dedication to the values of the Bishnoi community,” he added.
He further said that the appointment had been made after a “meeting was held at the premises of Bishnoi Temple…with the esteemed presence of key office-bearers and representatives from various regions of the Bishnoi community”.
According to the proceedings of the meeting, which ThePrint has accessed, the gathering included Bishnoi community representatives from Rajasthan, Punjab, and Haryana, including elders, who unanimously agreed to the appointment, emphasised the significance of the post and discussed the expectations associated with it.
When asked to consider if Lawrence’s appointment would not send a wrong message to the younger generation of the Bishnoi community, Inderpal said he had worked as a public prosecutor in Haryana for more than three decades and was aware of the functioning of the police.
“Whenever a thief is arrested, all old unsolved cases of theft are immediately put against his name to improve the police crime rate record. The same happened to Lawrence Bishnoi who was just arrested for violence at Panjab University. Leave alone his case, his younger brother Anmol Bishnoi, whom his mother made every effort to save from the police by ensuring that he studied away from home, has also been booked,” he alleged.
He asserted that saving the environment had been the core belief of the Bishnoi community for centuries, saying that in 1730, the then Maharaja of Jodhpur, Abhai Singh, had ordered the felling of Khejri trees to burn lime for the construction of his new palace. Amrita Devi opposed the cutting of the trees, which are vital to the Bishnoi faith.
According to legend, Amrita Devi put her arms around the trunk of a tree to prevent it from being felled; in response, the king’s men decapitated her. In the subsequent Khejarli massacre, her three daughters, Asu, Ratni and Bhagu, and 363 Bishnoi community members were killed while protecting the trees.
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The Akhil Bhartiya Jeev Raksha Bishnoi Sabha
The society was launched in 1977 by Sant Ram Bishnoi, an environmentalist who received the ‘Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar’ by the Ministry of Environment in 1987.
Sant Ram Bishnoi founded the body after he led a legal fight to bring a deputy police superintendent from Punjab to book for poaching a partridge in their village, believing the work of saving the environment could be better done through an organisation.
After Sant Ram Bishnoi’s death in 1998, the reins of the society remained with his family members. However, in 2022, the officebearers of the sabha were for the first time elected in a democratic manner and since then, Inderpal Bishnoi has been its president.
In 2018, Akhil Bhartiya Jeev Raksha Bishnoi Sabha succeeded in its efforts to force the Nuclear Power Corporation of India to shift its residential project for the Fatehabad nuclear power plant from Rajasthan’s Badopal village to elsewhere, because the site was the natural habitat of blackbucks, and several of them had lost their lives after getting trapped in the fencing erected by the corporation.
Two senior officers of the corporation faced prosecution for the death of seven blackbucks in Badopal after the Akhil Bhartiya Jeev Raksha Bishnoi Sabha filed cases against them in 2016.
Vinod Karwasara Bishnoi, president of the sabha’s Haryana unit, told ThePrint that the body’s fight for the rights of voiceless animals had resulted in a ban on the use of blade wires for the fencing of agricultural fields in Haryana as it was resulting in the death of blackbucks.
Lawrence Bishnoi & Salman Khan
Lawrence Bishnoi, who comes from Punjab’s Fazilka district, studied at Panjab University, where he met Goldy Brar, a key member of the Bishnoi gang who is believed to operate from abroad.
In 2011, during a scuffle between two gangs in Chandigarh, Lawrence allegedly fired a gun and was charged with attempted murder—his first criminal case. Lawrence later partnered with Sampat Nehra, the son of a police officer, and along with Goldy Brar, the trio began criminal activities not only in Punjab but also in Haryana.
Lawrence subsequently got involved in organised crime, extorting money from liquor mafia, drug smugglers and businessmen. He was arrested in Rajasthan in 2014 and is currently lodged in Gujarat’s Sabarmati Jail.
In August 2023, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order restricting Lawrence from being taken out of jail for any purpose for a year. His court appearances now take place via video conference. The order has now been extended till 2025.
In 2018, Lawrence publicly threatened to kill Salman Khan for the blackbuck case.
The blackbuck killing incident pertains to September 1998, when the actor was filming for the movie Hum Saath Saath Hain in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. The Bishnoi community had filed an FIR against Salman Khan in the case and the actor was arrested and sent to jail.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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