Kidnap
Farmers in Bommalapura village, bordering Bandipur Tiger Reserve, crossed a line of criminality this week. Angered over recent livestock kills, they locked forest department officials inside a cage meant to capture a tiger. Their excuse: negligence by the department. Their crime: kidnap.
This is not protest. It is mob justice. Forest staff, already under immense pressure managing tiger movement, were humiliated and threatened by those who profit from living on the forest’s edge. A tiger killed a calf—tragic, but natural. Farmers responded not by demanding coexistence solutions, but by taking human hostages.
Arrests must follow. Convictions must follow. Anything less signals that farmers can terrorize the very people tasked with protecting India’s forests and tigers. Raitha Sangha leaders even threatened further sieges if tigers aren’t “captured.” Capture who? Capture what? Tigers belong in Bandipur. Farmers know this. Yet they demand cages for wildlife while forcing cages on officials.
Kidnap is a crime. Stop excusing it under the banner of grievance. India must back its forest staff, or tiger conservation collapses under intimidation. This is the frontline of human-tiger conflict.
The kidnap article:
Based on Deccan Herald, India.
Photo via Deccan Herald.
