Speeding deforestation, dwindling forest cover and intensified wild elephant-human conflict again resulted in the destruction of property and loss of innocent life in the Bhaluchua village area, limiting Magarload police station of Dhamtari district, Chhattisgarh.
This time, the mutilated body of a 61-year-old tribal lady was recovered in three pieces in the village panchayat area of Jhajharkera of Bhalchua on Tuesday after she was crushed by a herd of elephants.
It has been informed that Kamla Bai belonging to the Kamar primitive tribe was brutally trampled under the feet of a frenzied herd of wild elephants. The lady died on the spot.
The old tribal woman was killed in the night while she went to address the call of nature close to the village pond, unfortunately, the tribal Kamar lady became the victim of angry wild elephants.
Her body was recovered from three places at the site of the attack, one villager said. The wild jumbos also destroyed standing crops in the village including paddy, bananas and others.
After the arrival of the forest and police department teams in the morning, the body was sent for autopsy, the village man said.
Police officer Shubhash Lal of Magarload police station said that the victim had quarrelled with her husband on Monday night, after that she went from her residence to complain to the villagers about the mistreatment done by him. Unfortunately, amid this, she was attacked by the wild elephants and she died, the police officer said.
Meanwhile, the DFO Dhamtari, Satovisha Samajder said, "Our team reached in the night after the incident. The incident was unfortunate, the lady who was also drunk, breached the rules and overlooked the precautionary measures. Coincidentally she came in contact with the wild tuskers, which attacked her."
As far as distribution of compensation is concerned, we are handing over it to the victim's biological daughter because the documentary records said the present man, along with whom she was staying was not her husband, the DFO said.
