Wild elephant attack: Fierce protest brings Kothamangalam to standstill for four hours

KOTHAMANGALAM: The town of Kothamangalam came to a standstill for about four hours on Monday after locals and UDF members unleashed a fierce protest against the death of Indira Ramakrishnan (71), who was trampled mercilessly by a wild tusker.

14 people including policemen were injured in the clash. The protestors didn’t allow the mortal remains of Indira to be taken for autopsy. Around 8:30 am on Monday, Indira served tea to her husband who was working on a backyard farm and she then walked her way to her house when the wild tusker came out of nowhere, kicking and trampling her to death. Before conducting the post-mortem, the dead body was brought to the city on a stretcher under the leadership of Dean Kuriakose MP, MLAs Mathew Kuzhalnadan, Eldhose Kunnappilly, DCC President Mohammed Shiyas and others at 11:40 am from the Kothamangalam Taluk Hospital Mortuary.

Police had to wait for four hours to alleviate the protest that went violent. The protestors were later removed after hours of conflict and the police seized the body and took it to the hospital for inquest and post-mortem. At 2:40 pm, the police had to push the dead body freezer box through the road to reach the ambulance amidst the crowd. Then the ambulance drove away without even closing the door. The protest camp was also demolished by the police.

The protestors demanded an immediate answer from the forest minister regarding the continuing wild animal attacks in Kerala. They also demanded Forest Minister AK Saseendran to reach the spot. After the post-mortem, the body was brought to Indira's house under heavy police guard at 6 pm. DySP and DCC President Shiyas engaged in a tussle after Shiyas pushed away the DySP. Even though the police requested that an inquest should be held and the body should not be seized, the leaders did not listen. Hundreds of people gathered on the spot raising ‘Police go back’ slogans. The protestors demanded that the autopsy be conducted only after solving the wild animal crisis in the state.

Relatives including Indira's son Shibu also participated in the protest. Indira's brother Suresh was also injured in the conflict. Police officials while demolishing the Shamiana Tent of protestors got injured after some parts of the tent fell on their heads.