In a weird incident, Assam police had arrested the elephant and filed a case against it. You read it right, the law enforcement agency has detained the elephant for allegedly killing a 14-year-old in Bokakhat of Assam's Golaghat district. The development has gone viral on social media as the first-of-its-kind incident in recent times had drawn national attention. 

According to reports, the female elephant 'Dulumoni' had allegedly killed 14-year-old boy Bitu Gaud two days ago and the parents of the boy had approached the police and filed a complaint. Based on the complaint, the police had filed a case against the elephant and its calf and the cops had arrested both the elephants. The arrest of the elephant had risen many eyebrows as there was no specific law in India to arrest elephants. 

The reports say that the police had filed a case under section 304A - causing death by negligence of the Indian Penal Code. After detaining the elephants, the police had handed over the mother-calf duo to the authorities of Kaziranga National Park on Thursday to keep them under custody. Speaking to PTI, the director of the park P Sivakumar said that the young boy used to tease the calf and the calf must have instigated the mother to kill him. 

The elephant, often called 'Killer Jumbo', belongs to Jiten Gogoi, who was a two-time MLA, and it had killed another person last year. The reports say that the elephant has killed the boy on July 8 and the boy's parents had demanded the police to take action against the elephant. When the arrest of the elephant had come to light, several social media users had expressed outrage against the police and some had also made sarcastic and funny memes about the arrest. 

History of arresting animals in India: 

In 2013, Ramachandran, an elephant in Kerala, was arrested for killing three people. The police had filed a criminal case against the elephant and it was kept under supervision. The animal was released after the owner had paid a penalty. In 2010, Indian police had detained a pigeon which, they said, was flown in from Pakistan and the police claimed that the bird was intentionally let into the country for espionage. The pigeon was caught with a ring around its foot, along with a Pakistani phone number and address stamped on its body with red ink. However, the police had eventually released the bird after no trace was found in connection to spying. 

Assam: A female elephant and her calf were taken to Bokakhat police station for the alleged killing of a boy in Golaghat district

"During the investigation, the elephant & her calf were brought to the police station & later handed over to forest officials," say police pic.twitter.com/joTbAeoK8w

— ANI (@ANI) July 15, 2021