Tense moments prevail at Maddur tribal colony

Residents demand ministers and officials to visit the region

Following the mauling of a person by a feline, suspected to be a tiger, tense moments prevailed at Maddur tribal colony and Gundlupet, here on Friday.

While a police official allegedly slapped a member of Raitha Sangha for staging a protest against the incident, residents of villages surrounding Maddur tribal colony expressed their anguish against the Forest department.

Range forest officer of Maddur Forest Range, Paramesh, had said that situation following the death of a person in a suspected tiger attack was tense, as protests were being staged.

While hundreds of villagers from nearby villages thronged the place where the body of Javaraiah, the victim of the attack, was found, Forest department officials had to seek assistance from the local police to control the crowd. Villagers were seen raising concerns about the recurrence of such attacks in the region and expressed worry over their safety.

Members of Raitha Sangha staged a protest as the body was being transported from the forest to taluk hospital in Gundlupet. The protesters alleged that since Hediyala and Maddur forest range were adjoining each other, the same tiger which had claimed three lives in H D Kote taluk recently was behind the death. “The tiger must be shot dead and compensation must be provided to the family of the deceased,” they demanded. They also demanded that district-in-charge minister, forest minister and other officials of the forest department must visit the venue and console the grieving families.

Slapping incident

The protests staged following the mauling of Javaraiah took an ugly turn, when a police official allegedly slapped a member of the Raitha Sangha, who was protesting against the incident. However, intervention from other police officials and residents prevented the incident from escalating towards violence.

Raitha Sangha members said that they would stage a protest in front of the police station, against the atrocities meted towards peaceful protestors by the police.