Mumbai News: Court Acquits Man Accused Of Cutting Down Mango And Ashoka Trees Due Missing Tree IDs

The Vile Parle Metropolitan Magistrate court has acquitted a 52-year-old man for allegedly cutting down two full-grown Mango and Ashoka trees because the tree authorities were unable to produce the identification of the trees.

The court held that every tree in the city is numbered, and the authorities’ inability to inform the court of the exact numbers and the crime of tree cutting could not be proven against the accused. The accused, Sanjay Nagarkar, associated with Sheth M A High School in Andheri, was thus acquitted due to a lack of evidence.

An FIR filed on September 7, 2021, alleged that the school abruptly cut down full-grown Mango and Ashoka trees located within the school premises. The complaint, Meher Haider, stated that the school had approached the BMC’s tree department for permission to trim a few branches but was accused of instead cutting down the entire trees, leading to a complaint being filed with the Garden and Tree Authority.

The defence highlighted that the school had already filed a complaint against Haider and her husband in the sessions court, suggesting the possibility of a retaliatory motive. However, the court held that one cannot rule out that the complaint was filed by the complaint as revenge against the school. Additionally, no proper pictures of the trees were produced.

The defence also argued that the police failed to provide a credible panch witness. “Ideally, a nearby witness should have been called as a panch witness, which would have added credibility to the case. However, the panch witnesses were from a different location, which the prosecution could not explain,” reads the school’s defence arguments.

In its judgment, the court held that in Mumbai every tree has been numbered by the BMC, which helps to keep track of them, “The very fact that the prosecution was not able to mention the number of the tree, itself is a lack of evidence and thus the case cannot be proved against the accused. For the case to be proved, the identity of the tree, which is done by its number, has to be produced.”

The court also said that since the prosecution has failed to bring any eye witness of the crime, thus the prosecution failed miserably to prove the charges against the school beyond the reasonable doubt.