Assam Police Arrest Female Elephant For Killing 14-year-old Boy

The news police arresting an elephant may sound bizarre, but the heavy mammal named Dulumoni has been arrested for killing a 14-year-old boy in Assam.

Elephant Dulumoni with its calf at Bokakhat police station in Golaghat, Assam.

Assam: The incident took place on July 8 when a female elephant attacked a 14-year-old boy at Bijuli tea estate near Naharjan, Assam.

According to the police, former Bokakhat MLA Jiten Gogoi owns the elephant named Dulumoni, and he has been raising it for over 22 years.

Assam’s Golaghat district police held the domesticated elephant following the complaints of local people after it killed a 14-year-old boy last week. The 8-month-old calf has also been taken into custody with the accused mother elephant.

The death of the 14-year-old prompted local residents to protest and they created intense pressure on forest officials to take action.

According to sources, a case has been against the elephant under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The police chained the elephant with its calf and brought it to the Bokakhat police station and later handed over it to the forest department.

The incident happened when the deceased was trying to hug the calf, reports also suggest, it was the third time the elephant had attacked humans in the locality.

According to the police, there will be no investigation with the forest department in the case. Also, the forest official would take the female elephant and its baby under its custody.

In a similar incident in 2013, the Kerala forest department arrested a male elephant named Thechikottukavu Ramachandran after it killed three women at a temple festival at Perumbavoor. The incident cost the owners Rs 30 lakh as they paid the amount to get their elephant released.