Photo of a monkey used for represenrational purpose only

AGRA: After a 12-day-old baby boy was mauled to death by a monkey on Monday, a 59-year-old woman in Kagraul area of Agra bled to death after a troop of monkeys attacked her. She was severely bitten by the monkeys, which left her only after she fell on the ground and could not move due to her injuries.

The incident took place around 11:30 pm on Monday when Bhuran Devi had gone to the field to relieve herself. The victim was rushed to a private clinic but died on Tuesday morning during treatment. The matter came to light on Tuesday evening when locals reported the matter to police.

Sanjul Pandey, station house officer of Kagraul, said, “The victim could have survived had the family taken her to a bigger hospital. Preliminary investigation revealed that the woman suffered severe injuries after she was bitten by the monkeys, leaving her bleeding profusely. As the victim did not get proper medical attention, she succumbed to her injuries during treatment at the private clinic. The family has not given any written complaint regarding the matter.”

Bhuran Devi's son Vijay Singh said, “As the attack took place late in the night, we rushed her to the nearest clinic, where she succumbed to her injuries.”

Meanwhile, taking cognizance of the two incidents, Agra mayor Naveen Jain on Wednesday said, “Monkey menace has been increasing in the city since the past several years due to the negligence of the forest department and the district administration as nothing has been done to check their population growth in the city.”

“Due to the monkey menace , residents in city have turned their houses into cages so that the animal can't enter homes. Earlier, the civic body had made efforts to put a check on the menace, but due to the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, implementation of anti-monkey programmes did not succeed. The forest department and the district administration have not shown any concern,” said Jain.

“We will prepare a report on monkey menace in the city and it will be tabled before chief minister Yogi Adityanath with a request for a suitable solution to the problem,” Jain added.

When contacted, district forest officer (wildlife) Anand Kumar told TOI, “With permission from the forest department, monkeys can be trapped and translocated to the Soor Sarovar bird sanctuary or the Chambal sanctuary. We don’t have a direct role in catching monkeys in city areas. Proper planning and targeted efforts are required to check monkey menace in Agra. For now, we don’t have any specific directions in this regard.”

On Monday night, a 12-day baby boy was killed in Runkata area after a monkey snatched him from his mother’s arm while she was breastfeeding the infant inside her house.

