Ailing leopard strays into MP village, locals click selfies, try to ride on him
animal rescued and hospitalised
Indore, Aug 30: Shocking videos of an ailing wild leopard being surrounded by a group of villagers, who are taking selfies with him and even trying to ride on him have emerged from Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh.
The incident occurred at Iklera village in Dewas on Tuesday, following which the forest department rescued the leopard. The animal, suspected to be suffering from some brain disorder, was admitted to a zoo in Indore city on Wednesday in a critical condition, and is battling for life, an official said.
The official expressed surprise over the male leopard neither attacking the group of people surrounding him nor roaring at them.
"The leopard was rescued on Tuesday from Iklera village, about 80 km from Indore," said Vikas Mahore, superintendent of the forest department's Kheoni sanctuary in Dewas.
He said that villagers will be warned not to go near any sick wild animal in future for their own safety.
In the videos that have surfaced on social media, a group of men, some of them holding sticks, are seen either sitting or standing near the leopard. Some of them try to click pictures with the spotted feline, while some others touch the animal who is not resisting their attempts. One video shows a man trying to ride on the animal when the latter is walking.
Talking to PTI, Dr Uttam Yadav, in-charge of Indore's Kamla Nehru Zoo, said the forest department rescued the male leopard, aged around 10 years, from a rural area in neighbouring Dewas district and admitted him to the hospital in the zoo.
"The seriously-ill leopard's body is stiffening and the animal is getting seizure attacks around every 20 minutes. Prima facie, the animal is suffering from some brain disorder," he said.
As per the advice of veterinarians, the treatment of the leopard has been initiated and the animal has been kept under 24-hour surveillance, Yadav said.
"This is for the first time we saw that despite being harassed by the villagers, the leopard neither roared at them nor resisted their attempts. This is very shocking because no matter how sick and weak big cats are, they never give up their in-built nature of resistance when they are in trouble," he added.
On the leopard being handled in an insensitive manner by the local resident in Dewas, he said, "This behaviour and audacity of the villagers is worrisome. Had the leopard attacked them, their lives could have been in danger."
VIDEO | Rescue operation underway by forest officials in Madhya Pradesh’s Iklera village after a leopard was found by locals in a dazed state. “A team from Ujjain is reaching to capture the leopard and the animal will be shifted based on the directions of the higher officials,”… pic.twitter.com/NHpS0f1Mx6
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Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
