:00:07. > :00:17.Rhinos are one of the world's most endangered species. But how far
:00:18. > :00:25.should we go to protect them? We are inside India's greatest national
:00:26. > :00:31.park. We are going to discover its dark secret. When we see any people
:00:32. > :00:39.at night-time, we ordered to question them. Authorities are
:00:40. > :00:48.evicting villagers. There is no jury, no judge, no questioning. It
:00:49. > :00:56.is alleged that there has been killing, maiming and torture. There
:00:57. > :01:01.is no question that rhinos should be protected, but at what cost? This is
:01:02. > :01:03.the inside story of the Indian National Park, and those killed in
:01:04. > :01:33.the name of conservation. This is one of the greatest wildlife
:01:34. > :01:46.reserves on earth. The home to two thirds of the world's population of
:01:47. > :01:52.Indian rhinos. Have a look at this. What a magnificent animal. They
:01:53. > :01:57.looked just incredible, don't they? They look like tanks with those
:01:58. > :02:05.great folds of grey skin like armour plating. But actually, they are much
:02:06. > :02:11.more vulnerable than they look. The park is a huge attraction for
:02:12. > :02:16.tourists and wildlife enthusiast. David Attenborough's team came here
:02:17. > :02:25.for a documentary. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited last
:02:26. > :02:34.year on their first tour of India. This is an incredible story of
:02:35. > :02:40.conservation success. There were only a handful of rhinos left when
:02:41. > :02:56.the park was set up a century ago. Now, there are more than 2400. But
:02:57. > :03:04.Kaziranga's success has a dark side. This is the story they don't tell
:03:05. > :03:08.you on the glossy wildlife documentaries, and tourists like
:03:09. > :03:14.William and Kate never hear about. So, what is Kaziranga's untold
:03:15. > :03:21.secret? Tourists have gone, the park is closed and I have been invited on
:03:22. > :03:30.a night patrol. Walk in the forest in the dark is a dangerous business.
:03:31. > :03:35.What are you looking for? Some animals might be sitting here, they
:03:36. > :03:42.might attack us. There is a rhino just next to a! Here's looking at
:03:43. > :03:49.us. The park is huge, more than 400 kilometres square, and there are
:03:50. > :03:54.around 1200 park gods. It looks like this fellow had been in a scrap with
:03:55. > :04:00.another rhino. Luckily, he was in no mood to charge us. -- guard. The
:04:01. > :04:06.cards are here to protect him from the most vicious predator there is,
:04:07. > :04:13.man. -- guards. And for that, they have been given extraordinary
:04:14. > :04:17.powers. When you see poachers or hunters, you start hunting them.
:04:18. > :04:22.Issued them? Yes. And you have orders to do that? Yes. We are
:04:23. > :04:27.allowed to shoot them, whenever you see there are poachers or people
:04:28. > :04:33.doing night things, we are ordered to shoot them. This man has shot
:04:34. > :04:38.suspected poachers twice in his four years as a guard, but has never
:04:39. > :04:42.killed anyone. He knows there are unlikely to be any consequences if
:04:43. > :04:52.he did. Lawyers say the power and he has a similar to those given to
:04:53. > :04:59.armed forces policing armrest. We used to sit here all night. --
:05:00. > :05:05.unrest. The park says these powers are essential to fight poaching. But
:05:06. > :05:11.the discretion to shoot and kill is a huge responsibility that could so
:05:12. > :05:15.easily be abused. When I meet the director of the park, he gives me
:05:16. > :05:23.the official line on what critics call the park's shoot on sight
:05:24. > :05:32.policy. Is, we have to question who they are, to certify them. Then we
:05:33. > :05:42.can shoot them. First we must understand who they are. Who the
:05:43. > :05:48.others are in the game -- first. -- gang. How many people have been
:05:49. > :06:01.killed in the last five years? I have the figures of how many
:06:02. > :06:10.poachers have been killed. 2000- 2014, 22 poachers were killed. 50
:06:11. > :06:21.people killed in the last three years, that is quite a lot? These
:06:22. > :06:29.are the people doing the poaching. Thinking about the price of rider of
:06:30. > :06:35.porn... We have a lot of problems. Around 300 plus suspected poachers
:06:36. > :06:39.live here. Kaziranga is the only park in India which uses these
:06:40. > :06:44.powers. But there are plans to roll them out elsewhere. That was really
:06:45. > :06:48.interesting. What surprises me is just how many people have been
:06:49. > :06:56.killed in the park. 50 people in the last three years. That seems like a
:06:57. > :07:01.lot of people. In the communities around the park, the rising death
:07:02. > :07:08.toll has become a major issue. Kaziranga is, like the rest of
:07:09. > :07:13.India, densely populated. This is one of many tribal communities that
:07:14. > :07:20.have lived in all close to the forest for centuries. They say
:07:21. > :07:26.increasing numbers of innocent villagers are being shot -- or. Look
:07:27. > :07:31.at this, this is the village road. Just over here is the national park
:07:32. > :07:35.full of all those wild animals. There are no fences, no signs, and
:07:36. > :07:46.if I was to step across and into it, there is a real danger that I could
:07:47. > :07:51.be shot. These parents believe their son mistakenly crossed into the park
:07:52. > :07:57.in 2013. He had been looking after the family's two towers. His father
:07:58. > :08:01.believed that cows straight into the park, and his son, who had severe
:08:02. > :08:08.learning difficulties, went in to try and find them.
:08:09. > :08:12.TRANSLATION: My son was shot in the chest by park Rangers. They also
:08:13. > :08:19.slashed his arm. I don't know whether they used an axle something
:08:20. > :08:27.else. Kaziranga told the BBC that guards shot the man when he did not
:08:28. > :08:31.respond to a warning. He could barely do up his own trousers or his
:08:32. > :08:42.shoes. Everyone in the area knew him because he was so disabled. I have
:08:43. > :08:47.not filed a court case. I am a poor man. I can't afford to take them on.
:08:48. > :08:54.I don't know anything about how the law works. What can I do? The park
:08:55. > :09:02.is under huge pressure to crack down on poaching. With 170,000 visitors,
:09:03. > :09:12.Kaziranga is by far the biggest tourist attraction in this province.
:09:13. > :09:20.These economic benefits make poaching a major political issue. In
:09:21. > :09:25.2013, when the number of rhinos killed doubled to 27, politicians
:09:26. > :09:36.demanded action. The head of the park was happy to oblige. Delicious,
:09:37. > :09:40.authentic cooking. I have just been reading a report Britain by the
:09:41. > :09:46.former director of the park. It talks about his philosophy and how
:09:47. > :09:51.the park should be run. He says any suspect must obey all be killed, he
:09:52. > :09:55.says there must be no unauthorised entry whatsoever. Killed the
:09:56. > :09:59.unwonted, he says. There is a section where he talks about the
:10:00. > :10:02.justice system. He says environmental crimes, including
:10:03. > :10:10.poaching, are far more serious than murder. The then Chief put his
:10:11. > :10:19.uncompromising dock in into practice. The number of people
:10:20. > :10:26.killed started to wires. 22 in 2014, 23 the following year. -- doctrine.
:10:27. > :10:32.At the park battled against poaching with intensity, there were further
:10:33. > :10:37.casualties. A deep rushes into the local hospital. Inside is a badly
:10:38. > :10:45.boy. This seven-year-old has been shot in the leg.
:10:46. > :10:53.I am going to die, he cries. Don't worry, you will not die, it is
:10:54. > :10:58.mother says. TRANSLATION: I was just coming back
:10:59. > :11:00.from the shop. The forest guards were shouting Rhinoceros,
:11:01. > :11:10.Rhinoceros. Then they suddenly shot me. The path to the shop runs
:11:11. > :11:14.alongside the national park. TRANSLATION: One got to him, he was
:11:15. > :11:25.crying. I rush to him. He was lying in a pool of blood. What is the
:11:26. > :11:29.condition of the wound now? TRANSLATION: They grafted into here,
:11:30. > :11:37.that has not worked well. Just look at it. He has changed. He is to be
:11:38. > :11:43.cheerful, but he is not any more. He wakes up in pain in the night and
:11:44. > :11:48.cries for his mother. Six months on, and Akash Orang can still barely
:11:49. > :11:56.walk. Now his brother has to carry him to school. The park says it was
:11:57. > :12:03.a terrible mistake. It paid Akash Orang's medical expenses and $3000
:12:04. > :12:07.compensation. There was a huge outcry. Hundreds protested that the
:12:08. > :12:17.park does not do enough to control the guards. They say the deaths are
:12:18. > :12:27.often not investigated and victims are not identified. When people come
:12:28. > :12:31.in, the national park claims they are poachers, so they wash their
:12:32. > :12:38.hands on the DAX. They never looked back into it. This policy is
:12:39. > :12:46.dangerous, because it is creating an animosity. -- wash their hands of
:12:47. > :12:50.it. These guards are preparing an ambush in the park. They said it was
:12:51. > :12:55.too dangerous for us to join them. Lee Park explains the high death
:12:56. > :13:00.toll, said the poachers die in shootouts with guards. Firm figures
:13:01. > :13:05.are hard to come by, but according to the reports we can find, just one
:13:06. > :13:14.part guard has been killed by poachers in the last 20 years. This
:13:15. > :13:20.compared to the 106 people shot dead by guards over the same period. The
:13:21. > :13:28.park is being run with utmost brutality. Deezar "extrajudicial"
:13:29. > :13:33.executions. -- these are. People are being killed in these encounters,
:13:34. > :13:36.with no judge or jury. These are not just poachers, but also local,
:13:37. > :13:42.tribal people, and the terrifying thing is that there are plans to
:13:43. > :13:47.roll out this shoot on sight policy across the whole of India. Three
:13:48. > :13:51.months on, and local people are protesting outside the park
:13:52. > :13:59.headquarters, yet again. This time, the allegation is torture. They
:14:00. > :14:06.bring the victim in a push cart. The victim was picked up in the park by
:14:07. > :14:09.guards and accused of smuggling boards for a poaching gang. He says
:14:10. > :14:19.the questioning was aggressive. Very aggressive. And with your hands tied
:14:20. > :14:22.here, and your legs tied here? TRANSLATION: They gave me an
:14:23. > :14:28.electric shock here on my knees and here on my elbows. And here on my
:14:29. > :14:35.groin, too. They kept on hitting me. I was tied up, so every time they
:14:36. > :14:39.hit me, I fell over. The officers are said people in torturing him. --
:14:40. > :14:43.the officer said. Then he will speak the truth. I kept on telling them
:14:44. > :14:48.that I was not a poacher, so they kept hitting me. He says that the
:14:49. > :14:52.ordeal lasted for three hours, until finally his interrogators became
:14:53. > :15:00.convinced they have the wrong man. Park officials called his village
:15:01. > :15:04.head man to pick him up. TRANSLATION: What the park it was
:15:05. > :15:08.unacceptable. They had no evidence he was a poacher. How can they
:15:09. > :15:14.justify torture? If they discover that he is involved in poaching, we
:15:15. > :15:21.would bring into the park. -- if we discovered. But what they did was
:15:22. > :15:27.outrageous. Kaziranga National Park says it did bring the man in for
:15:28. > :15:30.questioning, but categorically denies any harm came to him, adding
:15:31. > :15:38.it never uses a electric shock during interrogation. But again,
:15:39. > :15:42.local people are saying it is evidence their rights are being
:15:43. > :15:48.trampled by the park and say activists, some of the world's
:15:49. > :15:53.biggest wildlife charities, are turning a blind eye. For example,
:15:54. > :16:06.doubly WF describes itself as a close partner of the Assam Forest
:16:07. > :16:10.Department. They are - they have been providing equipment and Sun
:16:11. > :16:13.City Forest Department, and survivors have repeatedly asked them
:16:14. > :16:21.to speak out against the shoot on sight policy, which they have so far
:16:22. > :16:30.failed to do. -- Assam Forest Department. Instead, they have
:16:31. > :16:33.funded ambush training for Ghaz, and provided extra equipment, including
:16:34. > :16:38.nightvision goggles. But what would you use nightvision goggles for in
:16:39. > :16:46.anti-poaching? To monitor what is happening. And also to monitor if
:16:47. > :16:49.there is any people moving deep inside the park. It is quite likely
:16:50. > :16:53.those goggles have been used to target people who have subsequently
:16:54. > :16:58.been killed. I wonder how WWF feels about providing equipment to a park
:16:59. > :17:03.killing that many people. We have not come across any evidence that
:17:04. > :17:10.they have been used for spotting people. Would they report that two?
:17:11. > :17:15.The thing is, it nobody is comfortable with killing people.
:17:16. > :17:21.What is needed is ongoing protection. The poaching has to
:17:22. > :17:28.stop. The illegal trade has to stop? Yet, it needs to stop. But shouldn't
:17:29. > :17:32.WWF speak out? Because obviously this is funded by individual
:17:33. > :17:39.donation. What you think of donors would feel about WWF's involvement
:17:40. > :17:43.with a park which is involved with killing dozens and dozens of people,
:17:44. > :17:49.maiming people, and other allegations of torturing people? As
:17:50. > :17:57.they say, we are working towards it. We want the poaching to stop. The
:17:58. > :18:02.idea is to reduce it. It is not just Kaziranga, but also the enforcement
:18:03. > :18:09.agencies. I think the main thing is to work with them. And the bad news
:18:10. > :18:15.is it is not just the anti-poaching asset that threatens local people.
:18:16. > :18:25.You can see tigers in Kaziranga, but they are extremely elusive. We
:18:26. > :18:30.travelled to Rajasthan. They think they have seen a tiger down by the
:18:31. > :18:34.lake, here. We are going to try and find it, now. Hold on tight! Go, go,
:18:35. > :18:43.go! . ! That is a brilliant site. A
:18:44. > :19:07.brilliant view of a tiger. You can still see it. God, that was
:19:08. > :19:12.amazing. What a majestic animal. And it is utterly unconcerned about us.
:19:13. > :19:17.100 years ago, there were about 100,000 tigers in the world. Now,
:19:18. > :19:24.there are less than 4000. But the good news is, numbers are rising.
:19:25. > :19:31.And success has brought new challenges. Big wild animals like
:19:32. > :19:37.tigers and rhinos need lots of space. To accommodate them, India is
:19:38. > :19:41.planning a massive expansion of its network of national parks. It is
:19:42. > :19:51.great news for conservation, but the plans involve more than 200,000
:19:52. > :20:00.people being moved from their homes. And once again, Kaziranga is on the
:20:01. > :20:06.frontline. The park wants to double in size, and an eviction order has
:20:07. > :20:12.been issued. The problem is, the villagers do not want to move. The
:20:13. > :20:19.first elections happened in September. The police move in to
:20:20. > :20:24.clear the crowd. Seems like this could be repeated across India as
:20:25. > :20:40.part attempt to follow Kaziranga's example and expand. The crowd starts
:20:41. > :20:58.throwing stones. The police response first with teargas, then with live
:20:59. > :21:06.rounds. Two people were killed. TRANSLATION: I have no one. My
:21:07. > :21:10.husband was the only person I had. I wanted to take his body, but they
:21:11. > :21:18.beat me up, and would not allow me to take his body, so I had to leave
:21:19. > :21:27.it. Then they brought in diggers to destroy buildings. And the national
:21:28. > :21:35.park provided a team of elephants that slowly and deliberately went
:21:36. > :21:45.through the village, knocking down every home. This is all that is
:21:46. > :21:48.left. India's wildlife reserves are sanctuary is for its most revered
:21:49. > :22:05.species. -- -- sanctuaries. But it is in danger
:22:06. > :22:10.of testing the fate of local communities. We requested interviews
:22:11. > :22:14.from India's Environment Minister, the Minister of the environment for
:22:15. > :22:18.Assam, the head of the body that runs India's national parks, the
:22:19. > :22:22.chief Forest Officer from Sam, and for another interview with the head
:22:23. > :22:27.of Kaziranga. None were available to speak to us. -- Killing for
:22:28. > :22:35.Conservation. We have heard how important it is to work with local
:22:36. > :22:45.communities. -- had of the Forest office in Assam. Of course,
:22:46. > :22:51.endangers Delic Endangered Species need conserving, but is Kaziranga's
:22:52. > :22:56.approach to conservation putting it above a welfare of the people that
:22:57. > :23:01.we have told our best placed to protect it.