The snake is a protected species under Schedule II.
The Forest Department on Wednesday arrested actress Shruti Ulfat along with another actress and two production managers for recording a video while handling a captured cobra, which is a protected species under Schedule II and then posting it on social media in October 2016, which is in violation of Wildlife Act.
According to forest officers from Mumbai Territorial wing, complaints were lodged by several animal activists after the video that seemed like a promotion for her daily soap Naagarjuna went viral after Ulfat posted it on her social media.
Santosh Kank, Range Forest Officer (RFO) Mumbai Territorial said that after receiving complaints, they questioned the production team as well as the actress but were told that it was just special effects and not a live snake.
“We downloaded the video from social media and then sent it to the Kalina forensic lab to ascertain if the video was indeed special effects. However on January 17, we received a report that stated that the snake was real and based on this we sent the actress a notice and filed a Primary Offence Report (POR) and asked her to be present for an enquiry,” he said. The two actress along with two production managers came for enquiry on Wednesday and after admitting that they used a live cobra, were taken to court that ordered one day of forest custody.
Santosh Kank informed that they have been booked under Section 9, 39, 48 (a) and 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act. “We are now investigating who caught and provided the cobra and what happened to it as it amounts to hunting and capturing a protected species and once we get information even those will be booked,” he said.
Sunish Kunju, of PAWS who was the complainant in this case and got the forest department to send the video for forensic investigation said that the production team kept misleading the forest department just to hide the fact that they had shot with a real snake. “If such acts are performed by television personalities it will only promote capturing snakes and making such videos. We also want the forest department to arrest the main culprit who provided the snake as it was not only extremely risky for people but also traumatizing for the snake,” he said.
Pawan Sharma, Founder of RAWW and an NGO involved in rescuing urban wildlife, said that after watching the video they had alerted the anti-poaching wing of the forest department as it was evident that the snake was real. “It's a good move by the Forest Department as it got the video verified. The spectacled Cobra is a protected species, other than being one of the top venomous snakes. We suspect that its fangs could have been removed and probably the mouth too was stitched as even expert snake rescuers are scared in handling them,” he said.
A senior herpetologist and activist who had seen the video said that the actress and others posing with the snake seemed to be extremely comfortable handling a venomous cobra which meant they must have been sure it could not bite. “They might have shot the video to show that snakes are not harmful, but such videos cause a lot of negative impact as it promotes such capture and handling,” he said. Instead of giving her harsh punishment she should be made to work on conservation issues related to snakes by the forest department, he added.
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