Jalal Sikder (60), a day labourer from Ishwarkathi village in Bhairabpasha union of Nalchity upazila, Jhalakathi, has admitted killing baya weaver bird chicks and asked everyone's forgiveness with folded hands. "I did not know that killing baby birds is a crime under the law. I will never do such a thing again in my life," he said.

After learning that the weaver chicks had been killed, Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Rumpa Sikder summoned Jalal Sikder to her office on Saturday night (10 April), where he apologised to all present.

Assistant Commissioner (Land) Md Sakhawat Hossain, Nalchity police station officer-in-charge (OC) Md Ali Ahmed and prominent people of Bhairabpasha union were present.

UNO Rumpa Sikder said Jalal Sikder is an elderly man and a farmer. He did it out of anger after the weaver birds damaged his paddy by eating it. When called to the office, he came and publicly offered an unconditional apology, saying: "I am an uneducated man. I do not know any rules or laws. Something like this will never happen again in my life."

Jalal Sikder has a paddy field in front of Siddique Market in Ishwarkathi village, and a number of weaver birds lived in a palmyra palm next to the field. On Friday (9 April), claiming the birds were eating his paddy, he set fire to their nests, and 33 chicks were burnt to death.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.