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Wild justice: Leopard enters court in Chotila

The female wild cat's hound sent advocates, judges and justice seekers scurrying for safety

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The captured leopard
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More than a month after its brethren decided to visit the Sachivalaya, a leopard, perhaps in hopes of justice, entered the first-class judicial magistrate court compound in Chotila town of Surendranagar district. The female wild cat's hound sent advocates, judges and justice seekers scurrying for safety.

Unmindful of the chaos it was creating, the animal decided to sneak into the room of a clerk of the judicial magistrate. Forest officials said that at around 10.30 am they got a message about a leopard in the area.

"Our staff went to check the reports of a leopard in an abandoned railway building close of the court. Sometimes, even the presence of a hyena is reported as a leopard. As our staff chased it, the animal jumped the wall of the compound and entered the court premises that was adjacent to it," said a forest official.

He said the animal jumped through a window and entered into the room of a clerk of the judicial magistrate.

"Since it was an old building, the rooms were interconnected. While most of the people managed to get out of the room, two were caught in the interconnected rooms. It took an hour or two to get the two people out safely," said a forest official.

The room was packed with tables, chairs and cupboards. Therefore, we couldn't get a clear view of the cat to shoot with a tranquiliser.

"Unable to see the leopard, at one point we thought it might have escaped. Later, we realised that we had discounted the open cupboard in the room. When we tapped it with a stick the animal came out and was tranquilised," said the official. The operation took more than four hours.

Chief conservator of forests, Junagadh circle, SK Mehta, said it is quite unusual for leopards to venture into an urban area, particularly in the middle of the day.

"This is an unusual behaviour. In all likelihood, it came from the Mandav forest that is around 40 km from the place of the incident," said Mehta. The lone leopards are known to travel long distances. "There have been records of leopards travelling from Gir to Mehsana," he said.

RECENT INCIDENTS

  • A lion is suspected to have killed a fisherman in a village close to Mahuva Taluka on December 13. 
     
  • A leopard was caug-ht on camera entering the Sachivalaya in Gandhinagar in Nov. 
     
  • 3 people were killed in separate leopards attacks in Dahod in November
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