Vijay Holkar, an auto-rickshaw driver from Indore in India’s Madhya Pradesh, was trampled to death by an elephant. The elephant was later confined over the killing, and an Indian court has now granted it conditional “bail.”
According to media reports, after the death of auto-rickshaw driver Vijay Holkar, the elephant that killed him was released on conditional “bail.” Under a district and sessions court order, the elephant is for now being kept under watch in the city.
But the animal will not be allowed to leave Indore until a final legal decision is reached. The court imposed several conditions, banning it from being paraded around the city or attending religious processions or any public gathering. To avoid any untoward incident, the forest department will keep its movements under constant watch.
The bail applications of the elephant’s mahout, Umesh Goswami, and its owner, Sandeep Nirmohi, were rejected in the case, and the two accused were arrested and sent to custody. Further legal action has reportedly been taken against them. The forest department is examining not only the circumstances but also the documents relating to the elephant’s ownership, checking transfer papers and other relevant documents to determine whether it was transported and kept according to the rules.
The investigation found that the elephant’s behaviour had changed near Nanded on the way back from Hyderabad. The truck carrying it had a punctured tyre, after which the elephant refused to board and began behaving aggressively. As it would not board the truck, it was walked to Ujjain over about 15 days. According to forest officials, this long, hard journey affected the elephant’s behaviour and left it more irritable than before.
On the 25th of last month, the mahout took the elephant out on the road. Vijay, 49, had gone to feed it jaggery. Suddenly the elephant became enraged, wrapped Vijay in its trunk and hurled him violently to the ground, then put its foot on his chest. The seriously injured man was freed from the elephant by people nearby and rushed to the district hospital. His family later took him to a private hospital, where he died while undergoing treatment.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report