A 12-year-old student was trampled to death by an elephant late on Tuesday near Basbari under Parbotjhora Forest Division in Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD).
The incident occurred late night on Tuesday when a herd of elephants stormed into the Basbari Boraibari village, located around 25 km away from the Dhubri district headquarters.
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The deceased has been identified as Bandhu Ram Brahma, a student of 7th standard of Basbari High School.
The sudden presence of wild elephants in the area has already triggered panic in the human settlements near the forest in the last couple of weeks.
Though the animals are yet to trigger any major damage to life and property, possibility of the animals unleashing a reign of terror in the villages along the forest area looms large.
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Villagers said that the wild elephants have caused damage to crop fields at Basbari-Boraibari and its adjourning villages while the forest personnel are playing a role of mute spectaculars despite getting information.
A Sundar, divisional forest officer (DFO) of Parbotjhora Forest Division told Northeast Now, “This is for the first time in the last 40 years that these forests are seeing the presence of elephants which are 2-3 in numbers and it is believed that they have come from areas under Kochugaon Forest Division of Gossaigoan under Kokrajhar district.”
The forest official also said a team of forest personnel reached the spot after receiving information about the incident in the early morning on Wednesday and the department has made arrangement of post-mortem at Dhubri Civil Hospital.
The process for compensation shall be done only after conducting the post-mortem and police report submission, added the DFO.