Sukhu trying to cover up faux pas: Jai Ram

Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur today said that killing a jungli murga (red junglefowl) was an offence under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, but when all this had happened in the presence of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, one could not expect justice.

Thakur, in a statement issued here, said, “Red junglefowl is a protected bird under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and the Wildlife Protection Amendment Act, 2022, hence a case must be registered for killing it. Now, when a video of the dinner has gone viral, the Chief Minister is trying to mislead people by saying that it was a desi murga and not a jungli murga. The fact is that the menu mentioning ‘jungli murga’ was circulated beforehand and so the Chief Minister is now trying to cover it up.”

He said, “The Chief Minister is giving the clean chit without a probe. The Congress was upset over the idea of serving ‘rotis’ to people at Jan Manch programmes during our government but now it has no answer when protected animals are being killed and served while the Chief Minister is on a picnic.”