The Assamese folklore is replete with elephant songs as well as stories which celebrate the bonding between elephants and mankind.
However, this relationship has undergone a big change now. Today, elephants and human beings have seen a shift in the roles of a predator and a prey, with man most often being more predatory. The Indo-Bhutan border villages in Udalguri district fraught with man-elephant conflict continue to witness brutality of wild jumbos.
The wild elephants continue to create terror and trample humans in the Indo-Bhutan border villages in Udalguri.
In yet another incident, 45-year-old Dilip Boro, a driver by profession, was trampled to death by wild jumbos while his friend 55-year-old Bhandra Sahariah, sustained grievous injury at Rajagarh village under Dimakuchi PS in Udalguri district on Thursday morning.
Reportedly, a herd of wild jumbos at first smashed down the rented shed of the duo and pulled them from their beds before trampling Boro in a nearby pond.
The deceased and the injured are residents of Ramhari in Darrang and Panery in Udalguri respectively.
The injured has been referred to Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) for better treatment.
Locals in large number thronged the site and protested by burning tyres against the lackadaisical attitude of the Forest department officials.
The Dimakuchi I/C Maheswar Sarmah and Bhergaon SDPO B Purkayastha rushed the spot to take stock of the situation.
The agitating mob even resisted the police to take the body of the deceased for post-mortem demanding the arrival of DFO, Dhansiri Forest Division, Madhurjya Sarma following which he arrived and the body was taken for post-mortem.
The protestors numbering hundreds rendered the air with high pitched slogans against the Forest Department. The incident is the first reported casualty of man-elephant conflict in Udalguri this year while 7 humans and 8 elephants lost their lives in 2017.