NEW DELHI — Days after a man-eating tiger was shot dead in central India, a backlash is underway, with politicians and animal rights advocates denouncing the killing and a senior government minister threatening legal action against people involved in the hunt.

The female tiger, called T-1 by forest rangers, was believed to have killed at least 13 villagers over the last two years, and to have partially eaten several. A military-style operation aimed at tranquilizing and capturing the animal, which had two cubs, ended instead with the tiger’s death on Friday night.

India’s Supreme Court had ruled in September that the hunters could shoot the tigress if they were left with no other choice. According to forest officials, that is what happened when it was spotted near the village of Borati, in the state of Maharashtra.

After a group of rangers identified the tigress as T-1, one of them shot her with a tranquilizer dart, officials said. But then she lunged at their open vehicle, and another hunter raised his gun and fired. T-1 died on the spot.