A class 10 student was mauled to death by a tiger on Monday evening when he had gone out to relieve himself, a forest official said.
The incident took place in Pandari village in Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit district.
The victim, Pankaj, 18, was preparing for state board exams, scheduled to start on February 22.
Naveen Khandelwal, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR), said, “The attack took place nearly 3 km from the junction of Mala and Mahof forest ranges.”
Angry locals protested the ‘perceived negligence’ of forest officials for failure to protect the villagers from the tiger, which had been prowling in the area for the past several days.
SDM of Pilibhit Sadar Circle, Devendra Kumar, and SHO Pradeep Vishnoi rushed to the spot with heavy police force, but villagers refused to hand over the body to them for autopsy. Later the officials pacified the villagers and sent the body for post-mortem.
Khandelwal said the deceased’s family would receive a compensation of Rs 5 lakh, including Rs 4 lakh from the State Disaster Response Fund and Rs 1 lakh from the Forest Department.
The victim’s family put the blame on the delayed approval of a government-sponsored toilet under ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ as the prime reason for the tragedy. The family alleged that the approval came late as they refused to bribe the officials.
Kishan Pal, grandfather of the deceased, said, “Had the toilet been sanctioned in time, my grandson would have been alive today.”