Rangers and the Law The below tables detail the scope and legal source of certain powers, rights and obligations that would be of considerable relevance to rangers during their career. The inclusion of seven Asian countries provides an interesting opportunity for comparative purposes, at least by way of broad top-level overview. The information also serves to expand our scope of understanding on the topic of compensation available to rangers under certain scenarios, thus building upon the findings shared in the insurance study in the previous section. Other interesting laws are summarized, including those stipulating the mandatory retirement age for rangers in three countries (these are 56, 58 and 60 years of age).
faith, use of necessary force or minimum necessary force, would be highly important to the ranger profession. Determining the boundaries of these concepts in each of the countries would likely require an analysis of related administrative-disciplinary procedures. Such an exercise would be of obvious value and would allow decision makers to more directly consider whether the current balance is the best possible for protecting both rangers and suspected wildlife offenders from unjust outcomes.
The laws described below also invite deeper investigation of some important issues. For one, the wording of the laws provides only a partial understanding of the extent to which rangers might face legal liability for actions undertaken during the course of their duties. In particular, what would or would not fall under the categories of good
The striking similarity of laws across countries also becomes apparent when considering the information below. In a significant proportion of cases this similarity is not limited only to identical statutory text, but extends to identical provision (or article) numbers for the controlling legislation. For the countries in question this is a consequence of either a shared British colonial past, or the direct influence of those colonial legal systems. For example, in India and Bangladesh a statute from 1927 (now the respective Forest Acts of those countries) still
POWER TO ARREST
POWERS/DUTY INDIA
SRILANKA
BANGLADESH
Indian Forest Act
Forest Conservation Ordinance
The Forest Act
Section 64 (1): Forest Rangers may arrest, without a warrant, any person whom the they suspect to be involved in an offence punishable under this act with a sentence of one month and above.
Section 48: Forest Rangers may arrest, without a warrant, any person whom the they suspect to be involved in an offence punishable under this act with a sentence of one month and above. The officer may also arrest without a warrant if there is reasonable suspicion that the offender will abscond.
Section 64: Forest Rangers may arrest any person, without a warrant, whom the they suspect to be involved in an offence punishable under this act with a sentence of one month and above.
Section 49: Every Forest Officer may interfere for the purpose of preventing, the commission of any forest offence.
Section 66: Forest Officer shall prevent, and may interfere for the purpose of preventing, the commission of any forest-offence.
POWER TO USE ARMS
Wildlife Protection Act
POWER TO INVESTIGATE / INTERVENE
Section 14: Forest Rangers may use minimum necessary force, including the use of firearms, in cases of prevention of commission of offences and effective searches.1
Section 6: Forest Officers are empowered to take any action/ intervene in order to prevent a commission of a forest offence.
Not Applicable
1
Applicable
Data Not Found
(Procedure under Chapters XI and XII of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 will have to be followed
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