The bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Md Khairul Alam issued the order after hearing the petition filed by the Supreme Court lawyer Barrister Monoj Kumar Bhowmick on Tuesday
The High Court has rejected a writ petition seeking the formation of a high-power probe body to investigate the unnatural deaths of wild elephants in Chittagong.
The bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Md Khairul Alam issued the order after hearing the petition filed by the Supreme Court lawyer Barrister Monoj Kumar Bhowmick on Tuesday.
Confirming the matter to Dhaka Tribune, Monoj Kumar Bhowmick said he would appeal the HC decision.
The secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, chief conservator of forests, and chief conservator of forests in Chittagong region were made respondents to the writ.
On August 23, an English national daily published a report titled "Elephant Poaching, killings: Swept under the rug.”
Quoting data from the Forest Department, the report said 106 elephants had died in the Chittagong Forest Circle -- which includes Cox's Bazar, parts of Bandarban, Chittagong city, and Rangamati -- in the last 19 years.
During this period, the Forest Department filed only two cases and 74 general diaries in relation to elephant deaths.
Of these 106 elephants -- 32 died in accidents, 29 of sickness, 22 from old age complications, 15 from electrocution and eight from gunshots, the report mentioned.
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