Amidst increasing incidence of man-animal conflict that has already claimed scores of human lives in the Kashmir Valley, a group of angry residents earlier this week tried to set a bear, who had strayed into their village in southern Kulgam district, on fire. Though the animal survived the attack and reportedly fled back into nearby woods, the incident has caused outrage among the animal rights groups and has also saddened sections of local population which see the act on part of the villagers as “cruel”. However, the villagers as well as forest officials insisted no attempt to torch the bear was made.
The incident came to be known on Saturday when a footage was placed on YouTube showing the bear trying to climb a tree in desperation as a crowd gathered around it. The villagers tied a burning cloth to a pole and raised it towards the bear in what looked like an attempt to set it on fire. The animal tried to perch itself further up on the tree’s branches until it couldn’t go up any further. According to the forest minister, no attempt was made by the residents to kill the animal. “They only tried to scare him away. The bear ran into the forest without being harmed,” he said.
***
Accused shot inside courtroom
Rabindra Nath Choudhury
Raipur, Nov 24
A youth on Saturday allegedly shot at a murder accused inside the court room at Bilashpur, nearly 120 km from here, when hearing on the latter’s case was going on, to “avenge” his brother’s killing, the police said.
Raj Sekhar Thakur, 25, barged into the court room of additional district and session judge Mansoor Ahmed and opened fire on the murder accused Kamal Dhure when the trial in the case was going on.
“Dhure was hit by the bullet on one side of his head, fired from a country made pistol by Raj Sekhar Thakur alias Raja. He was immediately admitted in the nearby government hospital. He was out of danger now,” Bilashpur district additional superintendent of police Rama Krushna Sahu said.
Later, Raja, who came to the court in a bike along with an accomplice, fled the spot after the attack and hid in the nearby sales tax office. The police cordoned off the area and captured him. His accomplice, however, managed to escape. “Dhure was arrested in connection with double murders in a village in the district on June 30, 2012”, Mr Sahu said.