Tiger kills woman in Katarniaghat forest; compensation claim disputed

Pilibhit: A tiger mauled a 40-year-old woman to death in Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary’s Murtiah forest range in Bahraich district around 10am on Monday, with forest officials and villagers giving conflicting accounts of where the fatal attack took place.

Rita Devi of Puraina village, had deep canine wounds on her neck, throat and shoulders, besides claw injuries on her cheeks and head, and police sent the body for autopsy.Locals claimed the tiger attacked Rita when she was mowing grass for cattle in a field adjacent to a drain flowing through the core forest area of the sanctuary. However, DFO Apoorv Dixit said evidence collected from the spot showed that the attack had taken place inside forest land, about 80 to 100 metres from the periphery.Dixit said forest teams found the woman’s blood, her water bottle and a bundle of firewood inside the forest area, while no blood or tiger pugmarks were found in the agricultural field where the body was later seen. “The ground evidence clearly indicates that the fatal conflict took place inside the forest area,” he said, adding that pugmarks found at the spot identified the animal as a tiger.Dixit alleged that family members, with the help of locals, shifted the body to the agricultural field to claim compensation of Rs 5 lakh earmarked by state govt for fatal human-wildlife conflict cases occurring outside forest areas.

“We have given monetary assistance worth Rs 10,000 to the woman’s husband, Subhash Gautam, on humanitarian grounds to help the family bear expenses for her last rites,” he said.The village is located close to the forest periphery, with human habitation barely 200 metres from the jungle boundary. Dixit said villagers frequently entered forest areas, especially to collect firewood, despite strict prohibitions and repeated appeals by the department to avoid entering the forest for their own safety.