13 Parrots Being Smuggled Out Of India Produced In Court, Judge Asks 'Where Were You Being Taken?'

Believe it or not, 13 parrots, who were allegedly being smuggled out of India, were produced at New Delhi¡¯s Patiala House Court yesterday. According to a report in The Indian Express, they were being smuggled to Tashkent by an Uzbekistan national.

Group of beautiful Parrots spotted in Vijayawada. Representational Image BCCL

The parrots were produced in front of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Manish Khurana. The 24-year-old accused, Anvarjon Rakhmat Jonov, was also produced in the court.

The 13 parrots were caught at New Delhi¡¯s Indira Gandhi International Airport on Tuesday, October 15. They came to the attention of security officials while baggage were being scanned, and security personnel spotted graphics of birds inside shoeboxes in a bag.

Parakeets from a seller on a road side. REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE BCCL

The bag belonged to Anvarjon Rakhmat Jonov but upon being questioned, he resisted and claimed that they were soft toys.

The authorities, however, were not fully satisfied with his reply so they opened his bag and checked the boxes, only to find as many as 13 parrots hidden inside them. Most of the birds were found in an unconscious state.

The officials further told the court that one of the birds had flown away as the cage was opened but it found its way back on its own.

PARROTS FEEDING ON A CHENNAI TERRACE/REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE BCCL

A senior CISF official was quoted as saying that the accused, Jonov, was scheduled to board a flight to Tashkent through Uzbekistan Airways.

¡°During questioning, he revealed that these were rose-ringed parakeets, whose demand is high in Tashkent,¡± said a customs officer.

The court was also informed that it was the first instance of its kind when someone had tried to smuggle live birds from IGI Airport.

As is ritual, the Magistrate questioned the 13 victims.

Green and Blue series Peach-faced Lovebirds sit together in a line at a hotel garden/REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE BCCL

¡°Where were you being taken,¡± he asked but the birds seemed busy feeding on pieces of apple and looking around the courtroom in a state of complete perplexment.

The birds were produced in the court in two cages, with six and seven parrots in each.

The judge has ordered the birds to be handed over to the Wildlife department, which will ensure that proper care and protection is provided to them.

The accused, Jonov, has been remanded to a 14-day custody and will now be brought before the court on October 30.