Boy killed by leopard, Uttarakhand CM summons forest officials; bans foreign tours

Dehradun: A 10-year-old child was mauled to death by a leopard in a Gujjar settlement in Madari village, officials said on Monday.

The boy was attacked by the leopard that was hiding behind the bushes near his home on Sunday evening, Senior Sub-inspector Cantt police station Kulwant Jalal said.

The parents of the child raised an alarm and struggled with the leopard to pull him out of its jaws, but they did not succeed, he said.

When villagers gathered at the spot, the leopard left the child and fled into the forests.

But by that time the boy was dead, he said.

The villagers protested and alleged that the leopard was active in the area for some time and the forest department had been informed about it, but no action was taken.

Taking a serious note of the incident, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami summoned senior forest officials at his office in the Vidhan Sabha which is in session and instructed Chief Wildlife Warden Sameer Sinha to take strict action.

He also issued orders to ban foreign tours of forest department officials.

The Chief Minister directed Chief Conservator of Forest RK Sudhanshu to monitor such cases on a daily basis.

Apart from this, the chief wildlife warden has also been ordered to go to the field himself.

"There should be no loss of life under any circumstances. Whatever is necessary should be done. Awareness among people should be created and a Quick Response Team of trained personnel should be sent to the field immediately,” Dhami said.