Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on Sunday slammed the Maharashtra government over the killing of the maneater tigress Avni.
Gandhi, in a tweet, hit out at Maharashtra Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar saying "it is nothing but a straight case of crime" and said she will take up the matter "very strongly" with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Despite several requests from many stakeholders, Mungantiwar gave orders for the killing. "I am definitely going to take up this case of utter lack of empathy for animals as a test case. Legally, criminally as well as politically" Gandhi added.
Avni was a five-year-old tigress identified as "T1" who had created terror in Maharashtra's Vidarbha forests. She was shot dead early on Saturday near Borati village in Yavatmal district.
Avni died after three months of a massive hunt undertaken with the help of trap cameras, drones, trained sniffer dogs along with a team of forest department officials and spotters.
As per the Supreme Court directives, forest department officials were required to first tranquilize and trap her, but in Saturday's operation, she allegedly attacked the stalking team which shot her.
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--IANS
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