Shops put up shutters, villagers protest after leopard mauls boy

The victim, Saidul Islam, a native of Assam, was playing near his house at Nadumalai Estate, when a leopard grabbed him right in front of his mother on Thursday evening. After a search, tea estate labourers found the body of the boy with its neck severed, a little distance away from his residence.

The irate estate labourers refused to allow the Forest Department staff to retrieve the body until late in the night demanding a permanent solution from such man-animal conflicts. Only after several rounds of talks by the Forest Department, revenue officials and police, they were allowed to take the body for autopsy at Valparai GH. Meanwhile on Friday morning, a large number of tea estate labourers resorted to a protest near the head post office on the Valparai-Pollachi Road. They demanded that the Forest Department remove bushes near residential areas as they provide an ideal hiding place for wild animals. 

The labourers also sought better lighting facilities and raise the height of fences around residential colonies. Besides estate labourers, school and college students also held protests in various places across the hills. 

All shops and commercial establishments remained closed expressing solidarity with death of the boy. Meanwhile, the Forest Department took steps to capture the leopard by placing traps in Nadumalai Estate. Forest officials also gave an initial compensation of Rs 50,000 to Mushraf Ali, the father of the victim and promised to initiate measures to prevent animal intrusions in residential areas. 

Following this, the labourers ended their protests around 2.30 pm.