Wolves maul to death child, injure woman in UP's Bahraich; animal attack cases reported in Sitapur
Bahraich/Sitapur (UP), Sep 2: A two-year-old girl was killed and a septuagenarian woman injured in separate wolf attack incidents in the Mahsi division of Bahraich district while reports of suspected animal attacks were also received from neighbouring Sitapur district.
District Magistrate (Bahraich) Monika Rani said this was the eighth death in wolf attacks since July 17.
Seven children were among those killed in the attacks and about 30 injured, she said.
According to officials, two-year-old Anjali was sleeping with her mother outside their home in the Garethi Gurudutt Singh village of the Hardi area on Sunday when she was taken by a wolf.
The child's mutilated body was found a kilometre from the village, the officials said and added that the wolf had eaten both her hands.
In the second incident, 70-year-old Kamala Devi from Mauja Kotiya village in the Barabigha area was injured when a wolf entered her house and attacked her early on Monday, they said.
She was admitted to the district hospital with injuries on her neck, mouth and ears and her condition was stated to be stable, they added.
The administration has already caught four wolves and is working to catch the others, District Magistrate Rani said.
However, the presence over a hundred revenue villages in the district has compounded the problem, with the wolves attacking a new village every four to five days, she said.
People are being made aware about the situation and told to sleep inside their homes with the doors closed or on rooftops, Rani said.
According to reports, two wolves are attacking but the forest department is collecting information about the exact number, she added.
Superintendent of Police Vrinda Shukla and Rani took stock of the situation and met the toddler's family members. They have also directed that the injured woman gets proper treatment.
In neighbouring Sitapur, fear gripped residents of Parsehra Sharikpur village after three women were injured in attacks by unidentified animals.
While locals claimed that the women were attacked by wolves, forest department officials suspect that a jackal was behind the attacks.
A forest department team collected animal samples and footprints and ruled out a wolf or tiger attack.
A Parsehra Sharikpur official said Rosida (30) was asleep with her three children in her home when she was attacked. Rosida suffered claw injuries on her hand.
Two more women -- 60-year-old Ramshree and 65-year-old Kailasha -- were attacked, the official added.
The official said villagers immediately informed the forest department and alleged that the women were attacked by a wolf.
Divisional Forest Officer Naveen Khandelwal told reporters, "Our team did not find footprints of any wild animal such as wolf, tiger, leopard or panther. Footprints of jackals were found and were confirmed by forest teams."
He also appealed to the public to avoid spreading rumours about animal attacks and creating panic.
"If any animal is found, people should immediately report to the forest department so that we could help them out on time," he added.
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'Rear-guard action': BJP over Mamata accepting sports minister's resignation after Messi event
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Tuesday alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's accepting Aroop Biswas' resignation as the state sports minister is nothing but a "rear-guard action" to douse public anger over the mismanagement of football icon Lionel Messi's event last week.
BJP co-in-charge for West Bengal Amit Malviya alleged that this is also an "open confession" that the Messi event fiasco was not accidental but a government-manufactured disaster, borne out of the poor governance of Banerjee, her ministers and the state bureaucracy.
Banerjee on Tuesday accepted Biswas' resignation as the sports minister in the wake of the controversy over the mismanagement of football icon Messi's event last week, a senior leader of the ruling TMC said.
Biswas, who had written to the chief minister seeking to be relieved of his responsibilities as sports minister, will continue as a cabinet minister, retaining charge of the power department.
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Reacting to the development, Malviya said in a post on X, "TMC Sports Minister Aroop Biswas resigns after the Messi fiasco and Mamata Banerjee accepts it in record time."
"Do not mistake this for accountability; this is nothing but a rear-guard action to douse public anger. anger! This is not 'Raj Dharma'," he added.
The BJP leader alleged that the incident was the outcome of "loot" of common people which is "so synonymous" with the TMC.
The incident was also the outcome of the "shameless VIP culture that TMC thrives on and deep-rooted cronyism promoted by Banerjee," he charged.
Malviya further alleged that Biswas' resignation exposes a "collective failure of Mamata Banerjee, her partisan bureaucracy, and her crony cabinet".
"This is a symbolic sacrifice, a political hoax, soon to be buried under layers of bureaucracy, with no justice, no accountability, and no remorse," the BJP leader said, adding, "No resignation will bring back the time lost, the money wasted, or the stolen chance for football lovers to witness Messi in Kolkata."
