Nagpur: In a stinging indictment of Maharashtra’s collapsing wildlife protection regime, the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court on Thursday took serious cognisance of the alarming spurt in tiger deaths across the state and ordered registration of a suo motu Public Interest Litigation (PIL). The court’s intervention follows a news report exposing the deaths of four tigers within just 12 days in Vidarbha, laying bare a grim pattern of neglect, apathy and administrative failure.
The figures are deeply disturbing. In 2025 alone, 11 tigers died within the first 22 days, while Maharashtra ranked second in the country in tiger fatalities last year, a statistic that starkly contradicts official claims of effective conservation. The deaths, the court noted, were not isolated incidents but appeared to be the outcome of a systemic breakdown in enforcement, monitoring and accountability.
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The bench was informed that several of the deaths occurred under highly suspicious and criminal circumstances, including electrocution caused by illegal live electric fencing and possible road accidents, pointing to a worsening human, wildlife conflict and a failure of authorities to act decisively. Taking a grim view of the situation, the court appointed Chaitanya Dhruv as amicus curiae to draft and pursue the PIL.
One of the most shocking cases dates back to December 31, 2025, when a tigress was found dead at Selu Murpad village in Wardha district. The animal is believed to have been electrocuted by an illegally erected live fence around a farm. Worse, the carcass was allegedly dumped in a water body under a bridge in an apparent attempt to erase evidence. Even after more than 13 days, no arrests were made, raising troubling questions about the seriousness of the investigation and the message it sends to wildlife offenders.
Equally disturbing was the death of two tiger cubs aged just 8 to 9 months on January 7 in the Deolapar range of the Pench Tiger Reserve. While forest officials hastily attributed the deaths to a territorial fight, the report cited a strong likelihood that the cubs were run over by a vehicle, suggesting a possible cover-up or, at the very least, a casual dismissal of inconvenient facts.
Another case emerged on January 11, when a two-year-old tigress was found dead in the Irai river near Chincholi village in Chandrapur district, close to the Tadoba–Andhari Tiger Reserve. The circumstances again pointed to electrocution from an illegal fence, followed by deliberate dumping of the body to destroy evidence.
The judges also expressed serious concern over the role of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), which has its regional office in Nagpur. The court questioned whether information regarding these deaths was being properly reported, transparently shared and rigorously pursued, or whether the cases were being quietly buried in official files.
The suo motu PIL will now examine systemic failures in wildlife protection, the quality and intent of investigations into tiger deaths, and the broader issue of escalating human–tiger conflict in Maharashtra. The matter has been posted for further hearing on March 18.
The court’s strong intervention has sent a clear signal: Tiger deaths will no longer be treated as routine statistics, and the state can no longer afford to look away while its national animal is electrocuted, crushed and dumped with impunity.
