CRIME AGAINST

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW IN INDIA

By: Mansi Dagras

ABSTRACT
This research paper focuses on crimes that are against environment, with a
close emphasis with law, it is meant to understand what law has to do with
environment, especially when there is damage caused to the environment
because of human activities, which are in the nature of self-harm. By this
research it would become a little clearer that why we humans are self-harming
ourselves, or bringing ourselves close to human extinction on earth, as we know
that law is the command of the sovereign, backed by a sanction.

INTRODUCTION
Environmental crime refers to the violation of laws intended to protect the
environment and human health. These laws govern air and water quality and
dictate the ways in which the disposal of waste and hazardous materials can
legally take place. Individuals or corporations can be found guilty of a white
collar crime when violations of environmental law are committed.
Crime against environment and wildlife are the acts that cause damage to the
environment and wildlife around us, they are considered as a category under the
organized criminal activities around the globe, it is the fourth largest area of crime
in the list of organized crime. These are under crimes against environment, these
are listed by the United Nations Inter-regional Crime and Justice Research
Institution.

These crimes are on the rise, according to a survey done in 2017, in India, there
had been a humongous jump of cases in India against environment and wildlife,
which has been around 790% from that in 2016. There have a lot of steps taken
up by the government to increase the reporting of the cases, as there has been rise
in awareness of the crime against environment and wildlife. Due to awareness,
there has been a rise in the activist movement all over the country to bring the
animal rights in India, with proper law enforcement, there has been a rise in the

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movement which is meant to be the voice for the voiceless, which is the nature,
environment in which we live in.
Environmental crime covers a wide range of violations that result in harm
befalling the environment and human life, from errors at the administrative or
record keeping level to the actual illegal dumping of pollutants into the
environment. Environmental crimes may include but are not limited to the
following:
i. Poaching;
ii. Illegal trade of wildlife;
iii. Unreported fishing;
iv. Trade of unregulated & illegal products for financial and personal gains
– trade of timber, ivory, rhino horns or even sandalwood;
v. Littering;
vi. Improper waste disposal;
vii. Oil spills;
viii. Destruction of wetlands;
ix. Dumping into oceans, streams, lakes, or rivers;
x. Improperly handling pesticides or other toxic chemicals;
xi. Burning garbage;
xii. Improperly removing and disposing of asbestos;
xiii. Falsifying lab data pertaining to environmental regulations;
xiv. Smuggling certain chemicals, such as CFC refrigerants, into the U.S.;
xv. Bribing government officials;
xvi. Committing fraud related to environmental crime;

MOTIVE BEHIND ENVIRONMENTAL CRIMES

These crimes, which are against the environment are not crimes that are driven
because of something spontaneous, these crimes are planned, these crimes are not
only responsible for environment degradation, but many other effects.
• The first and the most important motive to commit any act is gaining
material benefits and financial gains, many activities are done, just for
the sake of earning money and it is a motivator, for commissioning of
these types of crime, there are more motives behind these types of
environmental crimes.
• To gain control- sometimes environmental crimes are done to gain
control, it can be a territory, a product, to gain monopoly.

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DAMAGE TO ENVIRONMENT TILL NOW
Till now there has been a huge impact that has been caused to the environment
because of human activities, the damage caused is beyond repair, but still it can
be recovered if humans are able to understand the following statistics
• Each year humans consume more than 50 billion tons of natural resources
• At the speed at which the deforestation is being done, for any purpose, the
rainforest will be there only for the next 80 years, after that we won't have
any rainforest, they are responsible for a great percentage of fresh oxygen
that human life depends upon.
• Humans have disposed-off nearly 10 crore tons of hazardous waste on in
the year of 2020
• By some predictions humans will require another earth like planet to
sustain life on the actual earth, we are consuming the near future, we are
consuming the whole planet. But humans don't realize that they only have
one.
• Humans have consumed more than half of the coral reefs, and they are
consuming at an increasing level, by the next 30 years there won't be any
coral reefs. They are being lost because of human activities that cause rise
in the see water temperature, Acidification and Algae.
• humans will lose all their fisheries by 2050, which are the lungs of the
planet.
• Humans eat, destroy, consume more than 2 billion innocent animals and
plants each week.
• Humans are responsible for wiping out more than Ten Thousand animal
and plant species every year.
• It takes nearly 50,000 litres of fresh water to make 1 kilogram of meat.
The above damage is only caused by one single species, out lakhs of species or
even more. This is considered to be the 6th mass extinction of cosmological
history, The earth can produce for the needs, but not for greed, is not a quote
anymore, but it is becoming to the new harsh truth. It is believed that if there will
a drop in consumption of meat by 10%, it will lead to the end of starvation.

WHY ARE ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE CRIMES AGAINST

HUMANITY?
Environmental damage caused by humans ,is harming the humans themselves
,humans are damaging their own future by damaging the environment in the

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present days, above we have seen that the damage caused to humans is a crime
against humanity, but the international community nor the domestic community,
have understood, the need for having laws, which are strict enough, to stop, and
prevent environmental damage, from a single individual, to the whole world,
everyone is responsible for the damage caused till now, either for causing
damage, or for not stopping the damage being caused, some have caused a lot of
damage, some have caused a little, but everyone has contributed to the damage
caused till now. There are no limits to the crimes that have been committed, the
damage , the killings, that the humans have caused cannot be describe in mere
numbers, we humans have done an act, that would be done by the a VIRUS

When we kill an animal, we are taking away a life, just to fulfil some mere desires
of a human nature, when we cut a tree, we are welcoming our own end, we
humans have disrupted the Food chain, with every step we move forward towards
development, we are causing mass murder of species. If this isn't a crime, what
will be. By damaging the environment, we are damaging our own future, with
which we are losing our own world. There are many people that die, or lose
everything they have just because of human activities, which have been
unprecedented. There are droughts, vanishing of rivers, melting of ice caps, rise
in the water level, global Warming all because of the humans. Existing laws in
India, for prevention of crime against environmental and wildlife prevention.

In India there have been many different legislations, passed by the parliament,
and different States, with focusing of different areas of environment, like air,
water, prevention of pollution, forest, and many more, all the acts that are
currently under enforcement, are listed down below, with the mentioned year that
they were introduced also with their major aims and objectives.

THE FOLLOWING ARE THE ACTS THAT ARE STILL ENFORCED IN

INDIA:
• National Green Tribunal Act, 2010
• The Air Act, 1981
• The Water Act, 1974
• The Environment Protection Act, 1986
• The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972
• Hazardous Wastes (management, handling and trans-boundary) Rules,
2008
• The Forest Conservation Act, 1980

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 • Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991
• Biological Diversity Act, 2002
• Noise Pollution (regulation and control) Act, 2000
The above, are the major legislation which are currently enforceable in India,
these laws have had some major amendment, which shall be discussed further
under this topic. All these acts have different goals and aims, but the ultimate goal
is same and it is to, preserve the planet, prevent pollution, and help in progress
but in a sustainable developmental manner, Because the ultimate goals are the
same, these laws are somewhere interlinked.

THE FOLLOWING ARE THE OBJECTIVES OF THE ABOVE-MENTIONED

ACTS:
1. National Green Tribunal Act, of 2010 has the following objectives:
• To provide efficient and effective disposal of matters relating to
environmental protection.
• To provide compensation and remedies for the damages caused to the
victims- the property or persons.
• To Revoke two legislative acts of the Parliament, passed in 1995, and
1997 respectively
• To deal with other environmental issues.

2. The Air Act, 1981

• To prevent air pollution
• To control air Pollution
• To assign Central and State boards for the above-mentioned purpose
• To punish the violators of the act
• To deal with the matters related to air, its prevention and control.

3. The Water Act, 1974

• To prevent water pollution
• To control Water Pollution
• To assign Central and State boards for the above-mentioned purpose
• To punish the violators of the act
• To deal with the matters related to water, its prevention and control.

4. Environment Protection Act, 1986

• To improve the environmental conditions

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 • To uphold the 26 principles of the Stockholm declaration 1972.
• To take strict precedence action against those who harm the
environment
• To provide the central government with the power to take strict action
to prevent the degradation of the environment.

5. The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972

• To prohibit the hunting of specified wild animals, birds and plants.
• To setup management of national parks, wildlife reserves and
sanctuaries.
• To control trade and commerce of the wildlife and its products.

MAJOR AMENDMENTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW IN INDIA

There have been some major and important and latest amendment in the domestic
environment law of India, those amendments are as follows.
These laws have relaxed and put restrictions both.
• Under the notification of Environmental Impact Assessment, in 2006,
helped in relaxation of infrastructure, but at the cost of mass danger, before
this amendment, nearly every big project required but now projects which
cover the area less the 50,000 meters square does not require advanced
permission from the government.
• In Coastal regulation under the environment protection act, an amendment
was brought in 1996 which helped in increasing the tourism in India, but
again at the cost of environment, in this government lifted up the
requirement of advanced permission by the government, to start any
project in coastal regions.

The above were laws that relaxed the restriction by the government the following
are the amendments which helped the government have proper regulations in
environmental policies, they are as follows:
• The motor vehicles act (Amendment)2019- this law specifically focused
on increasing the penalty of violations of any motor vehicle law, by 100%
earlier the people who were required to pat Rs. 100 now had to pay Rs.
1000 for the same crime, this law had a lot of impact, people started
following road laws, and proper equipment in the cars to prevent
environmental damage. But different states in India brought the situation

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 back to square 1 when they amended to state laws, by bringing the fines
again at nominal rates, for political and social benefits.
• Factories Act of 1987, this was much needed law, after the Bhopal gas
tragedy, it brought strict laws, for the factories, who are mostly responsible
for environment degradation, and strictness was used in drafting these laws
to maintain proper check on the factories, to see if the basic standards are
being met or not.

IMPACT OF THESE LAWS:

As seen above, India has its own legislation for environmental protection, and
tools to prevent these types of crimes, now let’s see, the impact of these legislation
so far, has it been able to achieve its goals?
So far there have been many legislations, from 1853 till 2018 to now in 2020,
there have been many environmental laws, all these laws target to create
awareness about environment, its protection, and these laws have shown the
concern of the government, for the environment.
These laws have had their impact on the environment of India, some of these laws
have helped in preventing environmental damage, while some have not been so
impact-full, these laws have had a varied impact, these impacts range from a
single individual to the whole country.
These laws have had both positive and negative impacts , there is a requirement
of new laws, that an efficient enough to create awareness aiming the people,
which are there to make the work judiciary easy and not be lenient on the
wrongdoers, these laws in India have had a satisfactory response till now, I has
because of continuous interference of the judiciary and its precedents.
The government has drafted the legislation, but they need to take care of the
environment, as it has been taking care our needs.
Since 1990 the government has started taking seriously and since 2015 India has
become a global partner in saving the environment.

CASE LAWS
Case law are the cases, which have the power of being binding in domestic courts.
They play an important law, by being a source of law, there have been many cases
in the past, both in international and domestic legal sphere, the following are some

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of the most important case laws, in the domestic sphere of judicial system which
have given new bright turns to the environmental law, in India.
1. Municipal Council, Ratlam v. Vardhichand and Others 1980 AIR
1622,1981 SCR (1)
Also known as the Ratlam city case, is considered to be a landmark, and a very
important judgement given by the supreme court of India, in this case the court
observed the impact of deteriorating urban environment, on the poor living in the
urban area in this case, public health was recognized as a human right, which
obliged the municipal council, to take proper steps, especially in managing the
drainage facilities in Ratlam.
2. M.C Mehta v. Union of India (Shriram Industries Case) 1987 SCR (1) 819,
AIR 1987 965
Also known as the Shriram gas leak case, is a prominent judgment in the
environmental case laws in India, this was a gas leak of food chemicals in the
capital of the country, in New Delhi, in this case the court observed that company
in under absolute liability, to pay the compensation to the victims of the gas leak,
this was the first case in India, in which the concept of absolute liability was
introduced, this was also the first case in India in which the accused was
penalized, and was asked to pay for the damage caused, and pay compensation to
the victims of the gas leak.
3. M.C Mehta v. Union of India (Ganga case)1988 AIR 1115,1988 SCC (2)
530
Also known as the Ganga pollution case, this is a case, which is considered to be
the most important case, for rivers and their rights, in this case the court observed,
and closed many tanneries around and in the city of Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, as
Ganga is one of the largest rivers in India, there are many industries, which cause
pollution. Justice E.S. Venkataramiah observed just like an industry which cannot
pay minimum wages to its workers cannot be allowed to exist, a tannery which
cannot set up a primary treatment plant cannot be permitted to continue to be in
existence
4. Tarun Bharat Singh, Alwar v. Union of India and Others 1993 SCR (3)
21,1993 SCC Sulp. (3)115
In this case the court banned mining in the sariska national park region, but sadly
according to reports in 2015 the mining in sariska has been in full swing, it is
causing harm to the environment. And there have been no writ petition filled in

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the supreme court, not even under article 21 in which the right guarantees to have
a safe and healthy environment.

PUNISHMENT
This part of the paper tries to deal with how law provides remedies to the
environment, by punishing the wrong doers. This will only cover the domestic
Indian laws, that are used to punish them. The nature on these remedies can be
divided into three parts, as Constitutional, Civil and Criminal.
1. Constitutional Remedies:
• 42nd Constitutional Amendment- It gave the constitution many
amendments, but for the environment, there were two major
amendments, they were 48-A and 51-A, they are explained
below.
o Article 48-A- It is under part IV of the Indian Constitution,
under the Directive Principle of State Policies, it is titled as
Protection and improvement of environment and safeguarding
of forests and wildlife it is interoperated that the government
has the responsibility to safeguard the forest and wildlife.
The court has the power to apply financial sanctions on the
wrong doers, but recently they have started using
imprisonment, as a tool, under the jurisdiction of the court and
the intensity of the crime.
o Article 51-A, it is under the Part V of the Indian Constitution,
under the fundamental duties, it is titled as fundamental
duties there was an addition of a duty (g) which is interpreted
that the people have the duty and the obligation towards the
environment, that they need to protect the rivers, wildlife, and
they are needed to have compassion for all the living creatures
around them.
• Article 21- Article 21 of the Indian constitution has the most
expansive interpretation, it deals with the right to life and
personal liberty, it guarantees it, till the time there is no need to
take away this right by law. So, under M.C Mehta vs. Union of
India, it was also held that the people have the right to have a safe
and UN-polluted environment, and it should be guaranteed by the
government itself. It is the responsibility of the government and
the citizens of the nation, to guarantee this right to each other,
this right is not only for the citizens, it is also for the non-citizens

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 of India, under this if anyone is caught casing harm to the
environment, which leads or may lead to death, can be charged
with trying to murder under the penal code of India.
These were the constitutional remedies the below are the civil remedies which
exist in India, they are as follows, they mainly focus on monetary and financial
punishments, and short-termed imprisonment also, depending upon the
jurisdiction of the courts and the intensity of crime.

2. Criminal Remedies:
The following are the Criminal Remedies under the Indian Penal Code
The following sections of the IPC deal with public safety, public health,
public nuisance, negligence:

• Section 268 to-Section 294-A

• Section 269-271- spread of infectious disease is a public
nuisance and a crime
• Section 277- to prevent water pollution
• Section 290- Smoking in public is a crime
• Section 426-Pollution caused by mischief
• Section 430-Pollution caused by mischief
• Section 431-Pollution caused by mischief
• Section 432-Pollution caused by mischief
All the above are crime and these crimes are public in nature, which means that
they are against the state. Financial Sanction, Imprisonment or both are used as
a remedy.

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CONCLUSION
We as humans have done enough to damage the planet, and this planet has given
the humans everything thing they need, but because of the human greed, that is
present in the society, has led to this damage.
There are ways that we humans can recover but it will take time, but firstly we
require proper law enforcement, to bring an end to this kind of activities, and even
before that. We need new laws, which are strict enough, to apply the principle of
deterrence.
This paper has focused to bring the crimes against environment and wildlife
closer to the crime against humanity, crime against environment and wildlife,
should be considered as a crime against humanity.
This environment has been there to fulfil each and every need of the humans, we
need to take care of the environment as it has taken our care. The environment
doesn't need humans for its existence the humans need environment for their
survival.
In India and around the world we have many thinkers, many laws, many activists,
but it’s the role of very single individual which contributes to environment
degradation, or environment development. We have many things to do, but we
cannot do, till the time we are not able to save our environment,
This COVID-19 virus is a blessing in disguise, it has helped the environment
revive itself from all the harm done by the humans around the globe, yes it has
caused many deaths, that is where we need to understand that nothing is in our
control, and neither we should ever think of controlling anything.

In conclusion I can say, that with every step that we plan to take towards the
environment we should take only after assessing every factor, we should follow
the principles, and laws. We should respect and take care of the environment, as
we can only develop till the time life exist in this planet, and existence of life is
really close to an environment. Without environment there is no life, and without
life there are no humans.

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REFERENCES
1. Bare Act- Constitution of India
2. Bare Act- Air act,1981
3. Bare Act- Water act,1974
4. Bare Act- Environment protection act,1986
5. Bare Act- National Green Tribunal Act,2010
6. Bare Act- Wildlife protection Act,1972
7. Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)
8. Book - Environmental Law by Dr. Paramjit S. Jaswal, Dr. Nishtha
Jaswal, & Ms. Vibhuti Jaswal
9. Patten, D. Motivations, opportunities, and controls of environmental
crime: an empirical test of Kramer and Michalowski's integrated
theoretical model of state-corporate crime. Crime Law Soc Change 72,
195–210 (2019).
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-019-09811-2
10.Jaiswal, P.S., Common Law and Other Statutory Remedies,
Environmental Law, Pioneer Publications, New Delhi, pp. 19-35
11.Sadasivan Nair, G., Environmental Offences--Crimes against Humanity
and the Environment, Cochin University Law Review, School of Legal
Studies, Cochin University, Volume 11, p. 65

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