UP: Turtle Roasted Alive By 2 Men In Deoband; Let Off After Being Arrested

In an abominable incident, two people in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur, Deoband, burnt a turtle alive and recorded the incident on a mobile phone. The shocking video of the incident made rounds on social media platform X. A person named Aakash Kumar also uploaded the video as his Instagram story.

In the video, it is seen that the turtle is pinned to the ground and a man has kept his leg on the turtle which is in pain. The helpless turtle is seen struggling as the turtle is kept near the temporary brick stove.

After a while, the turtle is burnt alive. It is evident that the men in the video burnt alive the turtle but it's not clear why they committed the heinous act, which is clearly against the law. After the video went viral, a case was filed against the two men under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.

Initial reports also suggested that the police let the men go lightly after the incident occurred. However, police said that a case was registered against the 2 men under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 and the men were later allowed to leave.

As per the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, smuggling, poaching or killing of turtles and hard shell turtles is a crime punishable under charges of the Wild Life Act.

The menace of poaching, smuggling and killing of turtles has been a long-standing issue. A large part of it is because the turtle and tortoise are sought-after beings for occult practices as they find mention in the myths and folklore. The government and NGOs time and again run initiatives to inform people about the importance of turtles and tortoises to the ecosystem to discourage the smuggling or killing of turtles.