[1] In 2008, Švácha was arrested by Indian authorities for collecting insect specimens in Singalila National Park without proper permits.
[2][3] A group of Indian scientists responded by launching a petition in their support [citation needed] which ultimately gathered more than 1,200 signatures from leading entomologists worldwide.
However, Švácha was fined, while his assistant Emil Kučera was sentenced to three years imprisonment[4][5] but fled home to the Czech Republic prior to sentencing.
[6] Their conviction was the first under India's Biological Diversity Act of 2002.
[4] Švácha is editor-in-chief of the European Journal of Entomology.