Jharkhand imposes Section 144 as lone elephant kills 16 in 12 days in Ranchi

RANCHI: In an unusual incident, the Ranchi district administration issued prohibitory orders under section 144 of CrPC in the Itki block of the state capital to keep villagers away from the wild elephant, which trampled four people to death on Tuesday.

According to forest officials, the elephant has taken the lives of over 16 people so far in five districts of Jharkhand in the past 12 days after it got separated from its herd. The deaths were reported from Hazaribagh, Ramgarh, Chatra, Lohardaga and Ranchi districts.

On Monday, the elephant killed five people in Lohardaga; three of them were killed in the morning at a village under the Bhandra police station area, while another woman was killed in a separate incident by the wild tusker in Kudu.

Following reports of people gathering near the lone tusker out of curiosity or with an intention to drag it out in Itki Block of Ranchi, Sadar Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) has imposed prohibitory orders in the region

“In order to check loss of life and property emerging out of the man-animal conflict in Itki Block of Ranchi, prohibitory orders under section 144 have been imposed in Itki Block as the possibility of the villagers assembling near the wild tusker to drag it out cannot be ruled out,” stated the order issued by Sadar (SDO), Ranchi.

Under this order, five or more people assembling in a single place is prohibited, it added. Meanwhile, people are being made aware to keep away from the wild tusker by the forest officials.

“The primary reason behind going this elephant's violence is that it is a lone tusker which has been separated from its herd and develops a tendency to get irritated. One should keep away from lone tuskers and try not going towards it if it is moving in a particular direction,” said PCCF (Wild Life) Shaskhiar Samanta.

It attacks people only after it gets irritated and kills whoever is coming in its way, he added. Samanta informed us that they are tracking its location continuously and making all efforts to drag it towards the herd from which it has been separated.

Help from other states will also be taken if required to get control over it. Notably, Jharkhand has been a hotspot for elephants in north India. But, in the last decade, the surge of unregulated and illegal mining and a spree of infrastructure development, have posed new challenges to the free movement of elephants.

Moreover, the coal mining projects have largely affected the natural corridor of elephants as they create gaps in forest areas which compels the wild tuskers either to move further towards human settlements increasing the possibility of man-animal conflict. As per official data, there has been a rise in the man-elephant conflicts as 133 people were killed in jumbo attacks in 2021-22, against that 84 in 2020-21.