Two tigers attacked villagers in separate incidents within three hours in Pilibhit district on Thursday (July 17, 2025), killing one woman and injuring two others. Citing inaction, locals staged a protest in front of the administration, which sought to take custody of the body for a postmortem examination. The villagers claimed that despite numerous instances of man-animal conflict and sightings of tigers,the authorities failed to provide security to humans.

In Bithra Mandaria village, Trishna, 50, was mauled to death by a tiger. Her half-eaten body was recovered from a sugarcane field. Half an hour later, Nilesh, 20, was attacked by the tiger. The injured boy was saved after his friend fought off the tiger with a stick. The tiger injured another local from a neighbouring village who was working on his farmland. Both the injured are receiving treatment at a government hospital. Top district officials, including District Magistrate Gyanendra Singh, visited the affected areas and pacified the locals. 

Divisional Forest Officer Bharat Kumar said a trained team has been deployed at the spot following official approval for the tiger’s capture. The District officials directed forest officials to intensify surveillance and deploy expert teams to track the tigers. This is the seventh tiger attack in Pilibhit district since April 2025. On July 15, a farmer was mauled to death by a tigress barely metres away from his hut when he had gone to check his sugarcane crop in Phulhar village near the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR).

The areas near the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, located in Pilibhit district, frequently witness man-animal conflict. The northern edge of the reserve lies along the Indo-Nepal border, while the southern boundary is marked by the river Sharada and Khakra. A study done by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) shows that the Dudhwa-Pilibhit population has high conservation value as it represents the only tiger population with the ecological and behavioral adaptations of the tiger unique to the Tarai region.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Thursday (July 17, 2025) that India had sent an “unambiguous” message to the world that any attempt to harm its citizens would invite retaliation. “In contrast, the country faced terror attacks almost every day during Congress rule,” he said.

Mr. Shah, who also holds the Cooperative portfolio in the Union Cabinet, was addressing a cooperative and employment festival, marking International Cooperatives Year-2025, at Dadiya village near Jaipur. He referred to Operation Sindoor, affirming that it had eliminated terrorists based in Pakistan.

“When the Uri attack occurred, [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi took decisive action by carrying out the surgical strike. After the Pulwama attack, an airstrike was ordered. After the attack in Pahalgam, Operation Sindoor was sanctioned, which targeted terrorists across the border,” Mr. Shah said.

Fourth largest economy

Mr. Shah said the country had become the fourth largest economy under Mr. Modi’s leadership, while 22 crore people had been lifted above the poverty line. The vision of a “prosperous and secure nation” had been turned into a reality under the present dispensation, he added.

Meanwhile, veteran Congress leader and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday asked Mr. Shah to clarify why the trial in Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal’s murder case was not making headway after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the matter. Two cleaver-wielding men had murdered Mr. Lal in June 2022, when Mr. Gehlot was the CM.

Mr. Gehlot said at a press conference here, ahead of Mr. Shah’s address at the event, that though the State police had apprehended the accused within four hours of the incident, NIA took over the case overnight. “Three years later, even the statements [of witnesses] have not been recorded in the court,” he said.

CM Sharma praised

Mr. Shah praised Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma for launching public welfare and development works and said the BJP government in the State had taken strong action against paper leaks in recruitment exams by forming a Special Investigation Team.

He also pointed to the cooperative sector’s contribution to development and said it was playing an active role in 98% of rural areas. The Ministry of Cooperation had launched 61 initiatives in the last four years to strengthen the sector, he said.

Mr. Shah flagged off 100 new police vehicles, visited an exhibition of cooperative products, and distributed appointment letters to youths selected for government jobs. He also virtually inaugurated 24 food grain storage warehouses and 64 millet outlets on the occasion.

Besides the CM Mr. Sharma, Union Minister of Culture & Tourism Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Deputy CMs Prem Chand Bairwa and Diya Kumari, and former CM Vasundhara Raje were also present.

The Christian Medical College (CMC) has launched advanced ophthalmic diagnostic and therapeutic services for patients with eye cancers, especially children with retinoblastoma, the most common type of childhood eye cancer, as well as retinopathy of prematurity, an eye disease seen in preterm births, in Vellore recently.

According to a press release, the equipment, funded by Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited (KMBL) under its CSR initiative, included the retinal wide-field digital system – a high-end widefield camera for imaging the insides of affected eyes. The initiative also included a diode laser transpupillary thermotherapy unit – a laser machine to treat eye tumours, a new tonometer for measuring eye pressure, as well as a selective laser trabeculoplasty software to treat glaucoma, the second most common cause of preventable blindness.

In his address, Vikram Mathews, Director, CMC Vellore, said that retinoblastoma is a curable cancer when diagnosed early and treated promptly. “With this state-of-the-art equipment, CMC will be able to double the number of patients being benefited. CMC is the only hospital for a 140 km radius around Vellore that offers this service,” he said.

Himanshu Nivsarkar of Kotak Mahindra Bank said that access to quality healthcare should be a right, especially for children battling life-threatening conditions like eye cancer. “Through the partnership with CMC, the bank will help to transform the lives of young patients and their families,” he said.

The initiative supports the procurement of an advanced life support (ICU) ambulance to facilitate seamless inter-hospital transfers for the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) of CMC. The CMC’s EMS doctors, paramedics, and nurses cater to around 1,000 critically-ill adult and paediatric patients every month, the release said.