Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh high court, Jabalpur bench, has directed Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve to submit the cause of death and postmortem reports for six tigers that died this year, and the MP forest department to provide a detailed investigation report on the 54 tiger deaths recorded last year.
The division bench of high court chief justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and justice Vinay Saraf on Wednesday was hearing a petition filed by Bhopal-based wildlife activist Ajay Dubey regarding the deaths of 54 tigers in Madhya Pradesh, the highest since the launch of the Tiger Project in the country.
Field director of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve Anupam Sahay and MP forest officer has been asked to submit the detailed report by February 25.
Petitioner’s advocate Aditya Sanghvi told the court that six tigers have died in the Shahdol district and the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve.
Four tigers, including a sub-adult, died within the reserve on January 7, 8, 16 and 20, while two others died on February 2 in Shahdol near Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. “None of the tiger deaths were natural; they were caused by electrocution or other unnatural events,” he added.
“According to the latest census, Madhya Pradesh has 785 tigers. Despite being a tiger-controlled state, 54 tigers are projected to die in Madhya Pradesh in 2025. The state experienced 43 deaths in 2022, 45 in 2023, and 46 in 2024. According to official data from the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, approximately 57% of deaths are considered unnatural, due to poaching, electrocution, or unknown circumstances,” Sanghvi said.
A committee was formed to investigate the tiger deaths and poaching incidents that occurred in the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve and Shahdol Forest Circle over the past three years, said the petitioner.
“An investigation into the reports reveals glaring negligence, such as the discovery of old, mutilated tiger carcasses in some cases, missing body parts in others, and a lack of effort to identify and apprehend the perpetrators. Furthermore, it appears that the standard operating procedures and guidelines set by the Wildlife Headquarters and the National Tiger Reserve were not followed. The conservation authority’s directives for proper handling of cases were not followed. Most importantly, tigers were often reported as having been ‘in a fight,’ but no proper investigation was conducted,” reads the petition.
MP forest department’s additional principal chief conservator of forest, L. Krishnamurthy, said, “The cause of most of the deaths were either accidental or territorial. We are investigating every case properly with all forensic evidence.”
