india

Updated: Sep 07, 2019 06:09 IST

A 30-year-old unemployed man on Thursday allegedly attempted suicide by trying to enter the enclosure of a lion at the National Zoological Park in central Delhi’s Pragati Maidan before he was intercepted and rescued by security guards, the police said on Friday.

Chinmoy Biswal, deputy commissioner of police (south-east district), said that the man was psychologically unstable following domestic issues with his wife. “On Thursday, he had come from his home in Ghaziabad to visit the zoo when he suddenly decided to scale the fences to enter the lion’s enclosure. He was rescued before he could come in contact with the lion,” said Biswal.

Zoo officials later handed the man to police officials posted in the zoo, who then took him to the Nizamuddin police station.

“We counselled the man at the police station. We then called his brother and apprised him of the situation before allowing them to leave,” said the DCP, adding that no suicide note was found in the man’s possession.

The man worked as a driver before he lost his job, Biswal said, refusing to give more details.

The incident was reminiscent of the September 2014 episode where a white tiger named Vijay had attacked and killed a 19-year-old man who jumped over the barricade and into its enclosure at the Delhi zoo. The deceased was a factory worker and resident of central Delhi’s Anand Parbat. His parents said he was mentally unstable and addicted to marijuana.

In Thursday’s incident, a zoo official said that by the time security guards could intercept and overpower the man, he had crossed the bamboo-fence, the hedges and had even climbed the concrete wall. He was about to get down the moat, which was 20 feet below, when he was nabbed and brought down.

“The man later told security guards that he wanted to commit suicide since he was disturbed with family problems. Luckily, the lion, named Sundaram, was not close. There were hardly any visitors in front of the enclosure at the time. Had he managed to enter the enclosure it could have been a rerun of the 2014 disaster,” a zoo official who did not want to be named said.

An entry of the incident was made at the local police station but no first information report (FIR) was registered. Parliament last summer passed a law to decriminalise suicide attempts.

Renu Singh, director of the zoo, and RA Khan, curator of the park, did not answer calls for comment.

“The zoo is known for being a death zone for wildlife. Now utter lack of security is also becoming a threat to visitors. The zoo should be shut down for visitors and turned into a rescue and rehabilitation centre,” said Gauri Maulekhi, and animal rights activist and trustee, People for Animals.