Uttar Pradesh: Villagers who beat tigress to death also attacked elephant, mahout; FIR lodged

A DAY after residents of Chaltau village allegedly beat a 10-year-old tigress to death after running a tractor over her in the Dudhwa forest reserve, an FIR was registered at Sehramau North police station of Pilibhit district Monday.

The six named and various unidentified accused were booked under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC, as well as various sections of the Wildlife Protection Act.

The villagers attacked the tigress on Sunday evening after she allegedly injured a local youth, who officials said was trespassing on forest area at his own risk. The youth had later succumbed to his injuries.

The identified accused are village residents Babloo, Mukesh, Lal Bahadur, Chauthi, Subhash and Om Prakash. No arrests have been made so far.

In his complaint, Mailani range forest guard Mohan Ram alleged that on Sunday evening, some villagers entered Kishanpur range area with sticks and sharp objects, located the tigress and attacked her.

“They took our tractor and ran it over her. After that, they surrounded her and beat her to death. They also attacked an elephant kept in the village for patrolling, its mahout and other forest department officials. They manhandled the mahout and the officials and held them hostage before more officials came and freed them…,” Mohan stated in his complaint.

“On Monday morning, I received a call from Pilibhit MP Maneka Gandhi. She said locals of Chaltua village have killed a tigress and the police needs to identify those involved in the killing and take strict action against them. I immediately called the Sehramau North station house officer (SHO) Atar Singh and directed him to register an FIR as soon as the forest department files a complaint. I also asked him to identify those on the tractor and immediately send them to jail,” said Pilibhit Superintendent of Police (SP) Balendu Bhushan Singh.

Pilibhit SP (City) Rohit Mishra said they are investigating the case and have received video footage of the incident, adding that arrests will be made soon.

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