It’s a curious case of man, animal and the law.

Mohammed Alamgir, a railway fitter at Danapur, had rescued a male blackbuck from hunters near his Khalilpura village in Phulwarisharif two years ago. Now, it seems both Alamgir and Sultan, as the animal is fondly called, are destined to live together, thanks to the helplessness of the Forest Department to give shelter to the blackbuck.

Keeping the blackbuck at home is an offence under the Wildlife Protection Act — in fact, keeping a wild animal at home can invite a jail term of upto three years — but Alamgir cannot help treating Sultan as just another member of his family.

Alamgir, 50, remembers the chilly winter morning when he had seen some people trying to hunt the blackbuck in an arhar field. “I intervened and rescued the animal. After keeping it at my home for a week, I met Phulwarisharif forest officer Sanjiv Kumar requesting him to take it away to some safe place,” he said, recalling that he even got threat calls from some anti-social elements for this “benevolent act”.

Instead of taking away the animal, the forest officer made Alamgir’s son Mohammed Hasan write a “zimmanama (taking responsibility)” on a plain paper, saying the Forest Department could take away the blackbuck whenever they wanted to. Kumar also signed the paper without putting any official seal in an apparent bid to save his skin.

The Phulwarisharif forest officer said: “We have no place to keep the animal. That’s why we are forced to leave it under Alamgir’s care despite knowing the law. I have written to the Patna zoo for help.”

... contd.