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| Watercolor gouache and marker by Liz Peterson - this is a draft and study for larger painting |
It is difficult to fully summarize the accomplishments of Amit Jethwa, a skilled advocate for the nature and community of Gujarat in western India. Jethwa began his career as a pharmacist and later became a social worker helping communities organize against abuses by helping them understand and use the RTI (Right to Information Act). He also founded the Gir Youth Nature club which monitored illegal activities against wildlife in the area, particularly the poaching of asiatic lions in Gir National Forest and the illegal hunting of sea turtles along the coast. His vigilance in asking questions about the suspicious deaths of lions in the park helped reveal an undercover lion poaching gang operating in collusion with some park officials. Jethwa was also an instrumental figure in the prosecution of a famous bollywood actor, Salman Khan, after Khan illegally killed an endangered animal, a chinkara deer.
In 2008, Jethwa began to use the RTI act to expose illegal mining operations in a protected area near the Gir Forest. Based on information he found, he filed a public interest lawsuit against the mining efforts and named one particular government official, Dinu Solanki, as respondent in the case. He aimed to get the court's backing to cut off the power supply to the mining operations. In the midst of his activism against Solanki's illegal mining activities, Jethwa was threatened on several occasions by Solanki, and had sought an order of protection by the police, saying he believed that Solanki would try to have him killed.
On July 20, 2010, two gunmen on motorcycles shot and killed Jethwa outside of the high court of Gujarat where he had been meeting with his lawyer. The two men, Pachan Silva and Shailesh Pandya, escaped but were soon found, and initial investigations revealed that the two men were hired by a constable of Solanki's nephew, Shiva Solanki. The police ruled out the possibility of Dinu Solanki being involved in the crime, in spite of the fact that Solanki and his nephew lived together at the time. Jethwa's father appealed to have Dinu Solanki tried in September of 2012. Dinu Solanki was finally arrested by the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) in 2013.
Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/world/asia/23india.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
http://amitjethwa.blogspot.com
http://amitjethwa.blogspot.com/2010/11/biography-of-activist.html
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