13-yr-old girl killed by wild animal in Jhangul village of Kanha Reserve
| Date :20-Oct-2019 |
Staff Reporter :
Irate villagers attacked the forest team by pelting stones.
The Forest Department will provide a compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the bereaved family members
IN A tragic incident, a 13-year-old girl was killed by a tiger in Jhangul village of Kanha Tiger Reserve. The Forest Department is yet to confirm the incident as no evidence of tiger attack was found on the spot. The body was dragged by a wild animal for about two kilometres in the forest area from the spot of attack. The incident led to agitation by villagers as a large number of villagers attacked the forest team by pelting stones. A forest employee sustained severe injuries while several other employees were partially injured in the attack. Taking a serious note into the case, heavy police deployment was made and senior police, administrative and forest officers reached the spot.
The incident took place when 13-year-old Amrita Parte, daughter of Maniram Parte, student of class VIII in Government Middle School, Jhangul, went to graze the goats in forest area and her body was found in forest area near Jhangul village on October 18. Divisional Forest Officer, Mandla West, M N Trivedi, while talking to ‘The Hitavada’, informed that in prima facie of investigation, the forest team could not find any authentic evidence that the girl was killed by a tiger. Post-mortem report confirmed that the girl was killed by a wild animal. He informed that along with public agitation rains wiped out pug marks and other possible evidences of the wild animal from the spot.
Efforts are being made to identify the wild animal with the help of camera traps. He added that no man-eater tiger has been reported in the area till date but they are trying to identity the wild animal. Learning about the incident, a team of Forest Department reached the spot and sent the body for post-mortem after panchnama at Mandla District Hospital. Thereafter, senior officers and employees of Forest Department reached the spot for further investigation but a group of villagers attacked them and the team returned without any investigation.
According to the provisions, the Forest Department will provide a compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the bereaved family members. Superintendent of Police Rajaram Singh Parihar informed that a meeting of officers of Forest Department and villagers will be organised on Sunday to clarify the issue and complete necessary formalities to avoid any kind of public agitation and completing investigation of the Forest Department. A meeting will be organised in presence of Police Force to avoid any kind of further agitation.