Hathras farmer, 22, ends life after losing crop to stray cattle

Agra: A 22-year-old farmer, whose crops were reportedly destroyed by stray cattle, ended his life by hanging himself from a tree in Hathras’s Bhojpur village on Thursday.

Local residents claimed that the victim, Arjun,was depressed after his millet crop was destroyed by the stray cattle and he feared that he would not get adequate compensation from the government.

Talking to TOI, the deceased’s uncle, Narendra Singh, said that Arjun used to go to Surat to work as a labourer during lean months and had come back for harvest only a few days ago. “During his absence, his mother used to look after the crop. However, this time, stray cattle had completely destroyed the millet crop he had grown on his 3 bighas.He went to his field on Wednesday and fainted there after seeing his crop,” Singh said.

“We took him to his house and counselled him that everything will be alright but around 10 pm he went out without informing anyone,” said Arjun’s uncle.

Arjun’s body was found hanging from a tree, just 500 meter away from his house, on Thursday morning. “No one ever thought that he would take this step,” said the victim’s uncle.

Narendra is survived by his mother Shanti Devi,53, and his younger brother Ratan Prakash, 16. Police have sent his body for a post-mortem.

Despite repeated promises of the state government to overcome the stray cattle menace, the problem continues unabated,causing not only loss to crops but also precious human lives.

Earlier this year, farmers and villagers across many parts of Uttar Pradesh had locked up hundreds of cows in government primary schools as their crops were being destroyed by stray cattle. In Aligarh district, villagers locked up 800 cattle in 12 schools. The classes could not be held in those schools as the animals occupied classrooms.

Later in August, villagers at Gonhat in Sambhal district locked at least 200 cows on the premises of a government primary school when the classes were going on.