Mawer Handwara: Minor Boy Succumbs After Left Fatally Injured in Leopard Attack

Murtaza Mushtaq

Handwara: A 4-year-old boy lifted by a wild animal in Mawer area of Handwara, has succumbed after being fatally injured in a leopard attack, an official said.

The official told Alfaaz – The Words, that one Mohammed Hasnain Teli, son Nisar Ahmad Teli, a resident of Shirhama Mawer was attacked and lifted by a wild animal, while the boy was out playing with children.

“Soon after the incident, locals, police and army’s 30 RR launched a joint operation to rescue the child and after over an hour of strenuous efforts, the boy was rescued and taken to NTPHC Qalamabad,” the official said, adding, “a medical team led Dr. Iqra Wani and Dr. Sheikh Ayoub alongside a medical team assessed the critically injured boy.”

The team of doctors, the official said, administered all possible medical treatment to the boy, including giving him first-aid and CPR. “In a bid to save the life and provide preferential treatment, the boy was referred to GMC Handwara, where he eventually succumbed later on.”

The fresh incident has left the whole Mawer belt in a state of deep shock and agony, as the incident is almost eleventh in the recent past, even as a leopard was trapped just days before.

Many locals have expressed apprehension that the fresh attack is carried by the recently captured leopard as they claim that the trapped wild animal has been let out by the department concerned somewhere nearby.

MLA Langate Sheikh Khursheed has in the meantime expressed his resentment over the incident. “I am perplexed as to how this incident occurred just days into capturing of a leopard,” Khursheed said, adding, “I had on the same day urged the Department concerned to look for the fingerprints of the captured beast, but have no information whether they did anything regarding that or not.”

“How long can we be fodder to these roaming beasts, and why is the Department this long to act, or is it that it requires them to act and wake up only when there is any such tragedy,” said Khursheed.

“I take this time to urge the Department concerned and administration to make efforts to avoid such things taking place in times to come,” the legislator said.