Actress Nargis Fakhri given 'guard of honour' by forest guards; people demand action, say it is a disgrace to the uniform

Bangalore: Believe it or not. Hindi film actress Nargis Fakhri was given a ceremonial 'Guard of Honour' by the forest department officials at the Kabini wildlife sanctuary in Karnataka, recently.

She was shooting for a 'save tiger' show of a private news channel at the Kabini wildlife sanctuary in Mysore district, a few days ago. According to a leading Kannada newspaper 'Kannada Prabha', the Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF) personnel led by an Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) gave 'Guard of Honour' to Bollywood actress Fakhri and the representative of the news channel in Bangalore, who was with her.

The 'Guard of Honour' was given by the team led by ACF Lingaraju at Udburu in Kabini wildlife sanctuary. This incident has now led to a huge controversy. The people are now demanding a thorough probe into the whole incident. It is not yet known with certainty whether the 'Guard of Honour' was a genuine mistake committed by some ill-informed local forest department personnel or whether there was any pressure on them to do so from their top officials in Bangalore.

The Police and Forest department manual clearly states that 'Guard of Honour' can be given only to the ministers, top officials, state guests and others holding constitutional posts. It can't be given TO individuals unless the state government gives a clear instruction in rare cases.

Top officials of the forest department are red-faced over the incident.

"It's a disgrace to the uniform," said some conservationists. "Even if Shah Rukh Khan comes on a visit, we are not authorised to give him a guard of honour under the forest manual. The fact that these men were drawn from their protection duties to attend the guard of honour is shocking," a conservationist told English newspaper 'Deccan Chronicle'.

STPF personnel said they had no choice but to do as told by their seniors. "We could not go against their orders and had to participate in the salute. But this is not the job I signed up for," rued an STPF member.

Conservator of Forests and Director of Nagarhole Park, R. Gokul, said the incident had taken place in his absence. "It should not have happened," he admitted.