About 30 fisherfolk or honey gatherers fall prey to tigers annually in the Sundarbans as per unofficial estimates; the kin of most are not compensated on grounds of ‘illegal forest entry’
The Sundarbans is the largest river delta in the world, shared by India and Bangladesh. Its 100,000 sq km are home to Bengal tigers, estuarine crocodiles and bull sharks. Photo: iStock A recent order in the Calcutta High Court has opened the possibility of hundreds of hapless women in the Sundarbans, including a sizable number from the Adivasi community, getting compensation for losing their husbands and other male family members to tiger attacks while venturing out in and around forest areas to catch fish and crabs or collect honey.
The state government is unlikely to challenge the high court order and, in all likelihood, would pay the compensation soon, a senior forest official shared with this reporter on the evening of February 3, 2024.
Around 30 people lose their lives to tiger attacks in and around the Indian Sundarbans annually, according to locals, researchers and non-profits working in the area.
However, families of the deceased hardly get any compensation, despite the standing law that the forest department is to pay Rs 5 lakh to the next of kin. The state forest department claims that the number of tiger attack deaths is around seven to eight per year.
The pretext put forward by the forest department to avoid payment is that most tiger victims enter the forest area illegally, without the valid ‘boat license certificate’ (BLC) provided by the department, a mandatory requirement.
However, locals point out though nearly 600,000 people frequent forest areas for their livelihood, the forest department has only given around 920 BLCs, compelling most to enter forest areas ‘illegally’.
“The forest department and police often discourage us from reporting tiger attack deaths in forest areas, warning that will put us in more trouble, as the persons being killed have entered without a BLC,” a ‘tiger widow’ from Gosaba in the South 24 Parganas district told this reporter recently.
The Calcutta High Court, in a recent order, directed the Chief Conservator of Forest in the state forest department to pay compensation to the tune of Rs 5 lakh each to the widows of two fishermen who had died in tiger attacks in the core area of the Sundarbans.
Denying compensation for illegal forest entry would be a “grossly disproportionate” step, the court held.
Sarojini Mandal and Saraswati Auliya. Photo provided by Jayanta Basu
The January 18 order, issued by Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, is considered a landmark one as it is the first incidence where family members of Sundarbans tiger attacks victims are to be compensated under court order.
Activists believe it may open the gate for many similar compensations in the future.
The court has granted compensation to Sarojini Mandal, wife of Sambhu Mandal and Saraswati Auliya, wife of Radhakanta Auliya. Both fishermen, residents of Lahiripur Gram Panchayat in Gosaba, were killed together on October 17, 2019 while fishing in the Panchamukhani forest area.
Their widows, who first appealed to the women’s commission and then fought the case in court themselves, got support from non-profits Dakhinbanga Motsojibi Sonstha (South Bengal Fishermen Association) and Sundarbans Byaghrobidhoba Samity (Sundarbans Tiger Widows Association).
“The petitioners in both the cases are entitled to full compensation under the Government Order dated February 26, 2021 for loss of lives of their respective husbands,” read the order. Separate writ petitions were taken up together for hearing due to their similar nature.
While Sambhu was first attacked by the tiger, Radhakanta got killed while trying to save his friend. The body of Radhakanta was dragged away by the tiger into the jungle and could not be traced. Sambhu’s body was retrieved.
“The only defence of the respondent-authorities for refusing to grant compensation under the prevalent scheme to the widows of the deceased in both the cases is that the victims were fishing in a prohibited area where entry was restricted. The concerned Government Order relating to compensation dated February 26, 2021, clearly provides that the compensation would be payable in terms of the rates given therein to the victims or the legal heirs of the victims of depredation caused by wild animals,” observed the judge.
He added that even in case of any violation regarding entry, the punishment (read ‘denying compensation’) would be grossly disproportionate with the violation committed.
The Sundarbans, the largest river delta globally, is shared by India and Bangladesh. Its 10,000 sq km, is “one of the most significant human-tiger conflict hotspots”, declared the International Union for Conservation of Nature sometime ago.
Around 40 per cent of the Sundarbans is in West Bengal in India. It harbours around 100 Bengal tigers according to the latest census. Nearly 5 million people live in the Sundarbans, often in close proximity of the islands harbouring tigers. The estuarine waters are also home to saltwater crocodiles and bull sharks.
A large chunk of these people depend on the mangrove forests for fishing and crab catching, as well as honey collection, magnifying the chance of human-tiger conflict.
“The dependence on forest for livelihoods increased significantly during the pandemic period, especially with many coming back from their workplaces from outside. But now, our survey shows the pre-pandemic trend is back,” said Anurag Danda, director of WWF India’s Sundarbans division.
“The pandemic impact might have settled down. But climatic impact on agriculture and fisheries has been a long-term one. It significantly pushes up people’s dependence on forest areas for livelihood, particularly for fishery and honey collection,” said Tapas Mandal. He runs a non-profit Sundarban Jonoshromojibi Mancha at Kumirmari island in Gosaba.
“On average, about 30 persons every year get killed by tigers while venturing in or around the forest area,” said Gita Mirdha, an Adivasi tiger widow and senior functionary in the tiger widow association.
Between 1985 and 2009, 789 persons were attacked by tigers in the Sundarbans. Of these, 666 died, researcher Chandan Surabhi Das wrote in his 2017 paper, Analysing Human Wildlife Conflicts In Sundarbans’. That is an average of 28 incidents per year.
“I went into the forest with my husband. As he was collecting crabs, a tiger attacked him. He died even before we could take him to hospital,” said Santi Sardar. “No report was filed with the police as we were told this would invite more trouble and that we had already cremated him,” she added. Needless to say, she did not receive any compensation.
“Most tiger attack stories follow the same pattern, with minor variations. Bodies are not found in many cases. According to our survey, there are nearly 130 tiger widows in Lahiripur Gram Panchayat alone, most of them Adivasis,” Arjun Mandal, a local social worker, who worked with tiger widows in particular and Adivasi women in general, told this reporter a few years ago.
Weeks later, he himself died in a tiger attack — his body never to be found.
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