Crocodile beaten to death by villagers after it takes away 11-year-old boy in northern India
by Surya PrakashLocation Vaishali, northern India's Bihar. Date: 2023-06-13
A crocodile was beaten to death by a group of angry villagers after it had taken away an 11-year-old boy in northern India’s Bihar.
This incident happened at Khalsa ghat in Bidupur police station area of Vaishali district on June 13.
Visuals showed the villagers surrounding the crocodile and beating it up. The reptile’s mouth was tied with the help of a net as the villagers rained blows on its body with bamboo sticks. According to a report, the child Ankit Kumar had gone with his family to the banks of the Ganga river to perform rituals for his father’s new motorcycle. The crocodile took away the kid when he went for a bath in the river.
“Ankit took a bath and was changing his clothes when a crocodile suddenly came out of the water, grabbed him by his legs and dragged him into the river. His family members raised an alarm and tried to trace the boy, but could not find him,” Seraz Hussain, the Station House Officer (SHO) of Bidupur police station said. Locals then arrived at the area with boats and nets and managed to capture the crocodile and the boy. But by then, he had already died and severe injury marks were seen in three places on his body.
This enraged the locals who then killed the reptile. The police rushed to the spot after being informed about this incident by someone from the crowd. The forest department also arrived in the area and said that an autopsy would be conducted on the crocodile’s carcass. It was also learnt that a case under the Wildlife Act would be registered and action would be taken against the people involved in this.
Furthermore, an awareness campaign would be conducted in this area for the people to learn more about wild animals and ways to avoid conflict with them.
