Mumbai: Will the leopard be freed?

The spot where Darshan Kumar was attacked on Friday. Pic/Rane Ashish

While Friday's attack on a 14-year-old boy in Aarey proves that the animal responsible for it is not the one that has been trapped, activists want to know if the leopard in the cage will be released back into the wild.

On Friday night, Darshan Kumar was answering nature's call when he was attacked by a leopard. Speaking to mid-day, Satish, his father, said, "My son showed courage and started shouting, after which people rushed to the spot, and the leopard ran away."

The Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) team reached the spot and installed a cage to catch the leopard responsible. But they had to face angry residents, who are demanding that multiple cages should be installed in the area to catch the suspected leopard. Social worker Intekhab Farooqui, who has installed lights in the area, using his own funds, said, "This is the seventh leopard attack in Aarey, but the forest department has not been successful in catching the animal."

Officials had installed four cages to trap the leopard, but another leopard got trapped instead. Environmentalist Stalin from NGO Vanashakti said, "The human-leopard conflict incident that took place on Friday proves that the leopard responsible for the attack is different from the one that has been captured. We demand the immediate release of the innocent animal."