New Delhi:

The fear generated by the wolf pack of Bahraich is being felt in other parts of the country. After 8 people, including 7 children and a woman, were killed by wolves over around 45 days, neighbouring Bihar is seeing a panic reaction.

In Bihar’s Maksudpur, a jackal was brutally killed because of the fear generated by sensational reports of the “killer wolves” of Bahraich. The jackal — spotted in the ruins of the Maksudpur fort — created panic. The animal was cornered and beaten to death.

This has left conservationists concerned about the reporting of such events.

“Media has a huge responsibility to stop the spread of unnecessary panic… The recent spate of alleged killings of children by wolves in Bahraich and the extensive coverage it has got in national and regional media are responsible for such barbaric acts in places that are hundreds of kilometers away,” said Dr Anish Andheria, President and CEO – Wildlife Conservation Trust.

“There many wrong things about this incident – a) mindless clobbering of an animal in cold blood, b) the criminals have mistaken a jackal for a wolf, c) the act highlights absolute disrespect towards the law [Wildlife (Protection) Act (1972)], d) video-graphing the entire act shows sadistic tendencies in the perpetrator/s,” he said.

Golden jackals are fairly common across India and are distinctly different from the other canid species, the Indian grey wolf.  

Compared to these wolves, the jackals have shorter legs, tail and snout. They are distinctively smaller in size as well. Both are found mainly in grasslands and scrublands. Unfortunately, the range lies outside protected areas, as in UP’s Bahraich and it is a victim of unchecked development and shrinking territory.

Indian scientist and former Dean of the Wildlife Institute of India, Dr YV Jhala, an expert on Indian wolves, said: “People have been misinformed by the media which is blowing it out of proportion and context. It’s time to take responsibility and not sensationalise and exaggerate. Simple solution to reducing the attacks and deaths is to be vigilant, take care of children always accompanied by adults, sleep indoors with doors closed or blocked with thorn hedge”.

The lack of prey base is another challenge in the area.

“There is no natural wild prey in the area,” said Dr Jhala. “Children are vulnerable to all predators including dogs if they are not looked after carefully,” he said.

Poor housing and sanitation facilities due to extreme poverty, compounded with lack of parental care (because of absentee and working parents) in this part of the country create a unique situation, where it becomes easier to kill children compared to livestock.

In Uttar Pradesh, officials have caught four wolves so far under “Operation Bhediya”.

The Bahraich district magistrate, and senior police and forest officials, have been leading the ongoing efforts along with divisional forest officers of four districts. High-frequency drone cameras have been used to monitor the wolf pack. The forest department has also been using elephant dung and urine to divert the wolves’ route when the attack occurred.

Officials said on Sunday that they have detected the presence of two wolves through drones and would capture them by today or tomorrow.

The Indian grey wolf, a sub species of the grey wolf, is highly endangered, like the tiger and is protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

Lucknow:

Mayawati was unanimously re-elected as the national president of the BSP, the party said here on Tuesday.

The decision was taken during a special meeting of the BSP Central Executive Committee (CEC) and senior national-level office bearers and state party units and representatives selected from all over the country, it said.

Mayawati, 68, is a four-time former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. BSP founder Kanshi Ram had declared her as his political successor over two decades ago.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Twelve passengers were injured when they jumped out of a slow-moving train in panic after some men operated a fire extinguisher and its fumes filled a coach near Uttar Pradesh’s Bilpur on Sunday. The incident took place in a general coach of the Howrah-Amritsar Mail in the morning near Bilpur station, which falls under the Moradabad division, an official of the Northern Railway said.

Passengers pulled the alarm chain for an emergency stop and jumped out of the train in panic, while it was still moving, the official said and added that ” 12 passengers were injured”.

“Prima facie, it looks like some miscreants or unruly passenger operated a fire extinguisher which created an impression that a fire had broken out in the general coach of the moving Howrah-Amritsar Mail,” he said The official added that the Railway Protection Force is investigating the case.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Etawah:

A 35-year-old CRPF jawan was killed after being hit by a goods train in Uttar Pradesh’s Etawah, a police official said on Saturday.

The incident happened around 7 pm on Friday, when Jabar Singh of Ali Khurd village was returning home from his farm, Barthana Station House Officer Devendra Singh said.

According to police, Mr Singh worked in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and had come home on leave.

His body has been sent for postmortem, they added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bareilly, UP:

An 85-year-old woman died after she was allegedly raped in her house in Hafizganj on Monday, police said.

The police have arrested the 35-year-old accused, identified as Rakesh, who lives in the neighbourhood.

Senior Superintendent of Police Anurag Arya said the victim resided alone after her husband and son had died. The woman’s brother and sister-in-law live in the neighbourhood and her daughter-in-law lives with them.

According to the daughter-in-law, when she went to the victim’s house at around 1 pm, she was stunned to see Rakesh raping her mother-in-law, Arya said.

The police said that when the daughter-in-law raised an alarm, the accused escaped and the family immediately informed the police. Meanwhile, the old woman died after the attack.

The police reached the site and succeeded in arresting the accused.

Mr Arya said that the accused is an alcoholic and is being interrogated.

A panel has been asked to conduct the post-mortem of the woman.

 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Ghazipur:

Two teenagers, listening to music via earphones on the railway lines, died after being hit by a train, police said on Monday.

Station House Officer (SHO) of Kotwali police station, Deendayal Pandey, said the two friends, Sameer (15) and Zakir Ahmed (16), are residents of Rajdepur.

The incident occurred on Sunday evening when the boys were sitting on the railway line and listening to music with their earphones. As the train reached the track, they couldn’t hear the sound of the train’s horn, Pandey said.

They were hit by the train and died on the spot, Pandey said.

The bodies were sent for post-mortem. Further investigation is underway, Pandey added. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Gonda, UP:

Train services have resumed on the affected downline route in Gonda, where the derailment of the Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express killed three people and injured 30 others on Thursday.

The services resumed after the completion of restoration work on Friday, authorities said.

The express train derailed near Gonda station in between Motiganj and Jhilahi railway stations under the jurisdiction of North Eastern Railway on July 18.

The North Eastern Railway has confirmed that three people were killed and seven have been critically injured.

“The final update that we have as official figures is that three deaths have occurred. Seven more are grievously injured and five have simple injuries,” said CPRO North Eastern Railway Pankaj Kumar.

As many as 4-5 coaches of the Dibrugarh Express train from the front got derailed. After getting the information, the medical team, along with senior officials from the Lucknow division of NER, immediately rushed to the site.

In addition to the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) inquiry, a high-level inquiry has been ordered into the rail derailment accident.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The police order to display the names of eatery owners along the Kanwar Yatra route in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, has been strongly criticised by Congress’s Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who said it was against the Constitution.

“Creating division in society on the basis of caste and religion is a crime against the Constitution. This order should be withdrawn immediately and strict action should be taken against the officials who issued it,” read her post on X, formerly Twitter.

“Our Constitution guarantees every citizen that he will not be discriminated against on the basis of caste, religion, language or any other basis. The divisive order to put up name boards of the owners of carts, kiosks and shops in Uttar Pradesh is an attack on our Constitution, our democracy and our shared heritage,” read a rough translation of the Hindi post.

हमारा संविधान हर नागरिक को गारंटी देता है कि उसके साथ जाति, धर्म, भाषा या किसी अन्य आधार पर भेदभाव नहीं होगा।

उत्तर प्रदेश में ठेलों, खोमचों और दुकानों पर उनके मालिकों के नाम का बोर्ड लगाने का विभाजनकारी आदेश हमारे संविधान, हमारे लोकतंत्र और हमारी साझी विरासत पर हमला है।

समाज…

— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) July 19, 2024

The police had ordered that all food joints display their owner’s name prominently to avoid confusion during the religious procession.

“Preparations have begun for the kanwar yatra. In the area under our jurisdiction, which is around 240 km, all eateries, hotels, dhabas, and thelas (roadside carts) have been instructed to display the names of their proprietors or those running the shop. This is being done to ensure that there’s no confusion among the kanwariyas and no allegations are raised in the future, leading to a law and order situation. Everyone is following this of their own free will,” said Abhishek Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police, Muzaffarnagar.

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi claimed that this move was to ensure no ‘Kanwariya’ buys anything from a Muslim owner’s shop.

The Opposition linked the move to “apartheid” in South Africa and policies in Hitler’s Germany.

As the controversy grew, the police clarified in a statement that the intention of the order was not to create any kind of “religious discrimination” but only to facilitate the devotees.

Kanwar Yatra, an annual pilgrimage by devotees of Lord Shiva, will begin on July 22.

Paneer, pulao and various curries were part of a big spread at a wedding in Uttar Pradesh and lakhs were allegedly paid in dowry, but two things were missing – fish and meat. This incensed a groom and his relatives so much that they rained kicks and punches on the bride’s family and even beat them up with sticks. 

The wedding was also called off and the groom left the venue, after which the bride’s family filed an assault and dowry complaint with the police. 

On Thursday, Abhishek Sharma led a ‘baarat’ (marriage procession) to Anand Nagar village in Deoria district to marry Sushma, daughter of Dinesh Sharma. Everything was going to plan and even the ‘varmala’ (exchange of garlands) ceremony was done when the groom was told that there was no non-vegetarian fare. 

“The groom, his father Surendra Sharma, and others began using abusive language regarding the lack of non-vegetarian food. When I objected, Abhishek Sharma, Surendra Sharma, Rampravesh Sharma, Rajkumar and some unknown people started beating my family with sticks and kicked and punched us,” the bride’s father said in Hindi in his police complaint. 

Videos show a melee, punches being thrown and even chairs being flung as the two families have an argument. 

The complaint also said nearly Rs 5 lakh has been given as dowry.

“I have given Rs 4.5 lakh to Abhishek Sharma, son of Surendra Sharma, for purchasing a car as dowry. A tilak set and two gold rings (worth Rs 20,000) have also been given,” Dinesh Sharma said in the complaint.

(With inputs from Vinod Kumar Dwivedi)

Raebareli:

A class 10 student at a private school in Uttar Pradesh’s Raebareli suffered multiple injuries, including a broken tooth, when he was brutally thrashed by his teacher over his incomplete homework, the police said.

According to reports, the teacher thrashed the boy so badly that he was knocked unconscious and collapsed on the floor. The teacher then fled the scene.

The students informed the principal, who then rushed the injured boy to the hospital.

Police arrested the teacher, identified as Mohammed Asif, who taught science subjects (Chemistry and Physics) on Wednesday.

Salon Station House Officer (SHO), J.P. Singh, said that the student was given homework in April, when the school closed for summer vacation.

On Tuesday, when the student reached the school, the teacher asked him about it.

“When the boy said he could not complete the homework due to some personal issues, the teacher lost his temper and thrashed him with a stick. As a result, he fell unconscious. He suffered serious injuries on his mouth and face,” said the police based on the complaint by the father of the student.

The SHO added that the school has also initiated an inquiry against the teacher.

The father of the student said his son was brutally thrashed and was taken to the hospital on Tuesday but was discharged a day later.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)