Boko Child Death: 2 Forest Workers Detained by Police

Two forest department personnel have been detained in connection to the incident in Boko in which a two-year-old child lost her life after a bullet accidentally hit her after the forest worker fired in the air to disperse a herd of wild elephants in Boko in Kamrup district. The mother of the child was also injured in the firing incident.

The arrested have been identified as Siddhartha Sinha and Imtaz Ahmed. The two forest department workers are now under interrogation at Boko police station.

The incident took place at Bonadapara area under Boko police station in the district on Friday.

Locals informed forest department officials and police when they came to know that a person was injured while seeing the herd of elephants in the paddy field.

A forest team along with police reached the area to disperse the herd of elephants from the area to nearby forests and they opened fire in the air. However, a bullet accidently hit the child and her mother who were returning from the site.

The two-year-old baby was on her mother's lap.

The locals, forest department officials and police personnel rushed the baby and her mother to a hospital located at Boko area where the child was declared dead.

The injured woman was shifted to Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in a serious condition and is presently under treatment.

"Along with other villagers, my wife also went along with my child to the area to see the herd of elephants," said the deceased child's father.

The locals had blocked National Highway 17 for several hours to protest against the child's death in Boko. They also demanded an inquiry into the incident and urged the state government to take measures to stop the destruction of crops by wild elephants.

Assam Forest Minister Parimal Suklabaidya said that a high-level team of the state forest department has been sent to the area to ascertain the facts leading to the child's demise.

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