2018-19

UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM & ENERGY STUDIES

College of Legal Studies

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

ENVIRONMENTAL CRIMES

Submitted By:

Manshika Mittal

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 ENVIRONMENTAL CRIMES
Definition: An act that is destructive to the environment and that has been
criminalized by statute.

Introduction
An environmental crime is a violation of environmental laws that are put into place
to protect the environment. When broadly defined, the crime includes all illegal
acts that directly cause environmental harm. Such crimes are also referred to as
‘crime against the environment.’ Environmental crime is a complex and ambiguous
term for several reasons. It is sometimes used as an umbrella term for crimes
related to biodiversity, wildlife, animals, natural resources, hazardous waste,
banned substances, and environmental quality, but scholars have also developed
typologies to capture the unique dimensions of each form of environmental crime.
Disagreements regarding whether to distinguish violations of environmental laws
(addressed via civil prosecution or administrative actions) from environmental
crimes (criminally prosecuted), and whether to also consider environmental harms
(legal activities that harm the environment) or environmental risks produce further
confusion. The range of offenders also complicates this concept, as individuals,
groups/networks, and powerful organizations commit environmental crimes. The
degree of harm created by each actor may, or may not, be equivalent.

Environmental crime is now becoming a serious problem worldwide in different

forms, with some of them being among the most profitable criminal activities in
the world. The most common crimes against the environment are connected with
the unlawful exploitation of wild fauna and flora, pollution, waste disposal and its
trade.

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Major environmental crimes  

1. Wild animal traffic:

Regarded by the Interpol as the third largest illegal business in the world –
after drug and arms trafficking –wild animal traffic raises a serious threat for
the world´s biodiversity survival. We can find several actors involved in this
crime, but consumers are among the most important ones as this crime
would disappear if supply and the high prices that people get to pay for them
on the black market ceased to exist. As a creepy side-note, the more
endangered the species is, the higher the price is for it. The most requested
species are tropical birds (parrots, macaws, etc.), reptiles (serpents,
crocodiles, etc.), arachnids (some types of tarantulas), monkeys (capuchins,
chimpanzees, lemurs), and so forth. But animal trafficking does not only
intend to sell them as company animals; we also find such serious cases like
the sale of elephants´ or rhinoceroses´ ivory on the black market, used to
make decoration items and/or in traditional Chinese medicine.  

2. Indiscriminate logging:
Main cause of deforestation. The Amazon destruction –the largest rainforest
in the world –speeded up in 2013 at a 29% rise in deforestation, according to
the Brazilian government. The uncontrolled logging to get wood for
furniture or other goods –or even for farm lands –is the most serious cause
of this environmental crime. Other lands –like the Indonesian forests –
disappear because of excessive palm oil cultivations. How can we stop this?
By demanding certified wood, avoiding products coming from extensive
farming…Preventing these environmental disasters is also in our hands!  

3. Electronic waste mismanagement.

In the so-called developed countries there are up to 50 million tones of
electronic waste every year (computers, TV sets, mobile phones, appliances,
etc.). And up to 75% of all these is estimated to leave the official circuit and
a good deal of them to be illegally exported to Africa, China or India. It is
the case of Ghana´s rubbish dump, a large electronic waste dump coming

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 from the West. Even though the export of this dangerous waste, including
the electronic one, is banned in some places, like for example in the EU
since 1992, a very good deal of this rubbish, which should be treated, ends
up in these remote places polluting it all. We can thus work by demanding
governments that they should take recycling measures adjusted to our
production and consumption rate, so that they will not end up as polluting
rubbish dumps anywhere in the world.  

4. Finning:
A hundred million sharks are captured every year by specialized ships and
up to 70 million of them are captured to only have their fins cut off alive on
the ship and then be thrown back into the sea. This practice involves a slow
and painful death, and it has been banned in the EU since 2003. Knowing
that a kilogram of a shark fin is worth 600 Euros in the Asian market, the
fining trade is patently obvious. Think about where the shark fin soup comes
from when you next see it on the Asian restaurants´ menus, and think twice.
Besides from being beautiful and strong creatures, sharks are essential
animals for the tropic chain in oceans and therefore essential for their
survival.  

5. Dumping in rivers and aquifers

This kind of environmental crime is most often caused by companies,
factories and Public Administrations. Faecal and toxic waste coming from
factories is usually dumped in a controlled way, but this is not always the
case. In these cases waste is uncontrollably released into the environment,
while at the same time polluting rivers, lakes aquifers, etc. This is a very
serious crime because not only does it cause the local wildlife to die or get
ill but also, as a result of the water leaking into the soil, it finds its way to
pollute the surrounding flora as well, affecting the food chain. There are
many ways to avoid this waste-dumping problem, such as using sewage
collectors or sewage plants, among others.   Considering the effects that
these crimes have on the environment, we have to bear in mind that many
times they also involve people exploitation, corruption crimes and money
laundering, killings (as in the case of illegal logging) and many others
related.
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Environmental Crime In India

• Environmental crimes i.e. the crimes manipulating environment inter-alia

involves air pollution, water pollution, and the illegal transportation, storage, and
disposal of hazardous waste, which causes most serious threat to public health and
natural resources. One of such serious crimes is ‘poaching’ i.e. illegal wildlife
trade.

• While data is easily available on pollution levels and emissions, statistics on

crimes against the environment are harder to come by. So, in 2014, the National
Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) compiled data on environment-related offences.

• Offences against the environment are registered under the following five
laws

a) Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 (as amended in 1988)
b) Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981
c) Environmental (Protection) Act, 1986
d) Wildlife Protection Act, 1972
e) Forest Act, 1927

• Wildlife and forest crime has a serious role in threat finance to organized crime,
and non-state armed groups including terrorist groups.

• International enforcement collaboration, such as the International Consortium on

Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC), which includes CITES, UNODC,
INTERPOL, the World Bank and WCO, together with increased collaboration
amongst agencies, such as with UNEP, and with countries, has created a more
effective structure to provide support to countries in the fields of policing, customs,
prosecution and the judiciary. These initiatives have revealed important and
significant early results.

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• However, the scale and coordination of the efforts must be substantially increased
and a widened effort implemented. They must be combined with efforts on good
governance, management and consumer awareness to ensure a long-term demand
reduction.

• In India Wildlife Crime Control Bureau has been formed in 2007, by amending
the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, a special Act to protect the wildlife in the
country. The bureau would complement the efforts of the state governments,
primary enforcers of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and other enforcement
agencies of the country.

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Indian Penal Code, 1860

Public Nuisance under the Indian Penal Code focuses on the operation of the law
of nuisance through specific statutory provisions in the Civil and Criminal Codes
of India. The Indian penal Code of 1860 contains elaborate provisions defining the
crime of public nuisance in its various aspects and instances and prescribes
punishments. Chapter XIV of the Indian Penal Code deals with offences affecting
public health, safety, convenience, decency and morals. While Section 268 defines
Public Nuisance, there are two specific sections dealing with the fouling of water
(Section 277) and making the atmosphere noxious to health (section 278) which
could be used against perpetrators of water and air pollution. Section 277 and 278
of the Indian Penal Code read as follows:

277. Fouling water of public spring or reservoir.

Whoever voluntarily corrupts or fouls the water of any public spring or reservoir,
so as to render it less fit for the purpose for which it ordinarily used, shall be
punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to
three months, or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees or with both.

278. Making atmosphere noxious to health.

Whoever voluntarily vitiates the atmosphere in any place so as to make it noxious

to the health of persons in general dwelling or carrying on business in the
neighborhood or passing along a public way, shall be punished with fine which
may extend to five hundred rupees.

The above two provisions have direct relevance to environmental protection as

they seek to prevent water and air pollution through a penal strategy. However,
their effective application towards achieving this objective is doubtful, because the
technicalities of Indian criminal law require a complete satisfaction of the
ingredients of the offence as stipulates in the penal provisions. Take for instance,
the provision relating to fouling of water. The wording requires proof of the
voluntary corruption or fouling of water, that the water must be of public spring or
a reservoir and that the water must have been rendered less fit for the purpose for
which it was ordinarily used. Such wording not only creates a burden for the

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prosecution to prove, but also provide the accused enough grounds to argue his
way out. The above provisions did not liberate the criminal justice process from
the difficulties of the common law demanding elaborate evidence for sundry
matters as well as technical interpretations of obvious things and events.

Section 425: whoever with intent to cause, or knowing that he is likely to cause,
wrongful loss or damage to the public or to any person, causes the destruction of
any property, or any such change in any property or in the situation thereof as
destroys or demises its value or utility or affects injuriously, commits “mischief”

Explanation 1: it is not essential to the offence of mischief that the offender
intended to cause loss or damage to the owner of the property injured or destroyed.
It is sufficient is he intends to cause damage to any person by injuring any
property, whether it belongs to that person or not. 

Explanation 2: Mischief may be committed by an act affecting property belonging

to the person who commits the act or to that person and others jointly causing
diminution of water supply has been treated as mischief in section 430 of the code
and the possible direct cause may also be pollution. Adulterating of food or drink
so as to make it noxious has also been making punishable.

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The Indian Criminal Procedure Code of 1973 (CrPC)

The Indian Criminal Procedure Code of 1973 has a significant chapter on

maintenance of public order and tranquility, which falls into four parts.

 Part A deals with unlawful assemblies (Section 129-132),

 Part B with public nuisance (Sections 133-143),
 Part C with urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger (Section 144),
 Part D with disputes as to immovable property (Sections 145- 148).

Most relevant in our present context is Section 133, which has been resorted to as
an effective remedy to abate public nuisance in instances of environmental harm.
This provision empowers a District Magistrate to pas conditional orders for the
removal of nuisances. This section is supplemented with ancillary provisions,
contained in Sections 134 to 143 of the Code, to constitute a comprehensive
procedure tackling public nuisance.

Section 144 of the Code has to be seen as a significant provision conferring wide
powers upon the Magistrate to deal with urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended
danger and tranquility. This magisterial power has been exercised only for the
purpose of preventing public disorder arising out of public unrest or riot situations.
The potential of this provision is vast, but it does not appear to have been utilized
effectively in cases of environmental harm.

The provisions in the old Indian law, which have a bearing on the environment,
have hardly been used in the past. The consciousness to protect the environment
was not as strong then, as it is today. Unless there was awareness on the part of the
people to approach the authorities neither the government nor the courts would
have had the opportunity to make use of the statutory provisions.

The important role played by the judicial activism of the eighties made its impact
felt mire in the area of the environmental protection than in any other field.
Municipal council, Ratlam v. Vardhichand18 is a signpost. The Supreme Court
identified the responsibilities of local bodies towards the protection of environment
and developed the law of public nuisance in the Code of Criminal procedure as a

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potent instrument for enforcement of their duties. In Legal Control of
Environmental Pollution, op. cit., p. 90. 18 AIR 1980 SC 1622

The processes that are envisaged under S. 133 of the Crpc have a social justice
component. The remedies available, and the powers exercisable, under the
provision are conducive to the demands of the rule of law necessitated by the
conditions of developing countries. The Supreme Court had no hesitation in the
endorsing the view that the municipality should prepare a scheme and abate the
nuisance which was allowed to continue only due to the lack do initiative from the
municipality.

Different Types of Environmental Crimes

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:

 Littering
 Improper waste disposal
 Oil spills
 Destruction of wetlands
 Dumping into oceans, streams, lakes, or rivers
 Improperly handling pesticides or other toxic chemicals
 Burning garbage
 Improperly removing and disposing of asbestos
 Falsifying lab data pertaining to environmental regulations
 Smuggling certain chemicals, such as CFC refrigerants, into the U.S.
 Bribing government officials
 Committing fraud related to environmental crime

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Punishment

Environmental law violators are usually hit with criminal fines, probation, jail
time, or a combination of these punishments. While jail time may be the most
formidable punishment for individuals who commit environmental crimes, fines
are intended to deter large corporations from violating environmental laws and
regulations. Without the threat of heavy monetary punishment, some corporations
might find that noncompliance is more cost-effective than obeying the law.
Environmental crime fines are meant to offset the financial allure of activities such
as illegal dumping.

Enforcement is often carried out by joint task forces, which are composed of
representatives from federal, state, and local organizations. At the federal level, the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has enforcement authority over
environmental law violations.

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Case Laws:

M.C. Mehta vs. Union of India & Ors on 12 January, 1988: Ganga
Pollution Case:
In response to a writ petition against pollution of the river Ganga due to industrial
waste, the Supreme Court of India in 1987 mandated the tanneries in Kanpur, Uttar
Pradesh to either clean up or shut down. This column finds that the ruling resulted
in a significant drop in river pollution, which in turn reduced infant mortality in the
city.

 The Court directed the Kanpur Nagar Mahapalika to take appropriate action
under the provisions of the Adhiniyam for the prevention of water pollution
in the river. It was noted that a large number of dairies in Kanpur were also
polluting the water of the river by disposing waste in it. The Supreme Court
ordered the Kanpur Nagar Mahapalika to direct the dairies to either shift to
any other place outside the city or dispose waste outside the city area.

 Kanpur Nagar Mahapalika was ordered to increase the size of sewers in the
labor colonies and increase the number of public latrines and urinals for the
use of poor people.

 Whenever applications for licenses to establish new industries are made in

future, such applications shall be refused unless adequate provision has been
made for the treatment of trade effluents flowing out of the factories.

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M.C. Mehta v. Union of India, 1986 – Taj Trapezium Case

This case is popularly known as the Taj Trapezium case. Taj Trapezium refers to
an area of 10,400 sq. km. trapezium shaped area around Taj Mahal covering five
districts in the region of Agra. Taj Mahal is one of the most popular and beautiful
monuments of the world. Taj is one of the best examples of the Mughal
architecture in India. It was declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.
In 1984, M.C. Mehta, a public interest lawyer visited Taj Mahal. He saw that the
monument’s marble had turned yellow and was pitted as a result of pollutants from
nearby industries. This compelled Mehta to file this petition before the Supreme
Court. The writ petition was attached with the report of the Expert Committee
called “Report on Environmental Impact of Mathura Refinery” (Varadharajan
Committee) published by the Government of India in 1978. The report indicated
the sources of pollution in the Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ).

The Central Board for the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution, New Delhi,
published its report on (Control of Urban Pollution Series) titled as “Inventory and
Assessment of Pollution Emission in and Around Agra-Mathura Region”. It
categorized the industries in Agra and its outskirts into seven different categories.
They gave some statistics about the pollution levels and they were quite high. And
said that by closing down two thermal power stations and replacing coal by diesel
in the railway yards Sulphur dioxide emissions can be cut down by 50%.

The judgment became a landmark one for environmental law jurisprudence in

India. Authorities reported a significant reduction of Suspended Particulate Matter
which is one of the pollutants causing discoloration of the Taj Mahal. This
judgment is also a commendable move of the Supreme Court since the court has
not only ordered for effective counter measures but also kept the rights and
benefits of employees working in the industries secure. Recently, the Supreme
Court bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta, on 31 st July,
2018, cancelled all the industrial expansion that the government had allowed in the
TTZ. This order of the Court reflects a strict attitude of the Indian judiciary

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towards protection of archeological monuments and reducing air pollution in the
country.

Possible Solutions:

 A clear definition of environmental crimes.

 Setting up of eco-crimes courts at international, national and regional level
for providing speedy justice.
 Strengthening institutions for the enforcement of environmental laws and
rules.
 Setting up of Eco-crime police at international and national level
 Spreading awareness and information, and sharing of experience and
knowledge.
 Sensitizing of judges, lawyers, NGO pollution control authorities, police
officials, and legislators on emerging threat of national and international
crimes, and solutions thereof.
 Providing legal aid to the victims of environmental crimes and eco-
restoration at the cost of polluters at national and international level.

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