Feted for killing leopard with bare hands in self-defense, Himachal youth now booked for wildlife crime

Caught off guard, Parvesh fought back. For the next 10-12 minutes, as the big cat kept clawing at his face and body, trying to sink in its teeth, a determined Parvesh tried to strangulate the leopard — a female. The breakthrough came when the youngster managed to get a grip on the leopard’s jaws and picking up a stone lying nearby, repeatedly struck its neck, head and claws. Parvesh also used a stick to rain blows on the animal. The constant assault that he unleashed for what felt like a lifetime, the leopard succumbed. Alerted by his cries for help, his father reached the spot and took Parvesh to a nearby government hospital for treatment.

As the news spread of the 18-year-old pinning down the wild animal, friends and neighbours came calling to see the youth who did the unimaginable.

The forest department also acknowledged that the wildlife death occurred in self-defense and provided an ex-gratia assistance of Rs 5,000 to Parvesh.

However, the fame barely lasted two days. On March 11, the family woke up to another shock. Based on the complaint of Forest Beat officer Hira Lal, Parvesh was booked under Section 51 of the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972 for killing an animal.

On Thursday, Parvesh and his father Balak Ram was summoned to the Arki police station to record their statements.

Balak Ram told The Indian Express that when his son cried for help, he too ran to help him with a stick. “By the time I reached, the leopard was dead. Whatever my son did was in self defense. I wonder what was the need of registering an FIR and that too when the forest department had already acknowledged the act and awarded Rs 5,000 to my injured son,” he said, adding that the forest officials present at the police station said they were only completing the required formalities “but I think, they will summon us again.”

Parvesh said that he first tried to run away from the spot like any other scared person would normally do. “But when the leopard pounced on me, I had to save myself. I caught it from its jaw and threw it on the ground. I used stones and sticks in self-defence,” he said.

Arki Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Raj Kumar confirmed that the department has lodged an FIR as per procedure. “We have lodged an FIR in connection with the incident against Parvesh Sharma. The stick allegedly used in self-defence were recovered from the spot and the police are conducting the investigation,” he said.

Forest department officials added that the carcass of the leopard has been sent for postmortem. While the department said that the animal died after being struck with sticks, the exact reason will be clear after forensic examination.

Arki Range Officer (Wildlife) Ashok Kumar added that preliminary investigation suggests that the animal was hardly one and a half years old. “Though we acknowledge that the animal was killed in self-defence, but we are just following procedure. Whenever an animal is killed in human-wildlife encounter, we have to follow the protocol, which includes registering an FIR and conducting postmortem. Leopard is a protected Schedule-1 animal in the Wild Life protection Act, 1972,” he said, adding that this won’t have any adverse impact on Parvesh.

Explaining the law further, DFO Gurharsh Singh said, “Although the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972 has certain provisions including Section 11 (2) pertaining to the ‘Self-defense’ but largely these are the Special Designated Wildlife, Environment Courts, which decide either the Act was committed in self-defense or with an ill intention. However, Clause 2 of Section 11 of the Act reads, ‘The killing or wounding in good faith of any wild animal in defence of oneself or of any other person shall not be an offence…’.”

Balak Ram added that earlier hardly one or two incidents of leopard sightings was reported from the area but now the frequency has increased. “The nearby Biuli forest is on the hilltop and our village Sarli is on a low elevation. In the last one week, a leopard has tried to harm two individuals and took away two-three stray dogs from our village,” he said.

This was not the first leopard attack in the area. A biker was attacked on March 6, following which the villagers lodged a complaint with the forest officials and asked them to set up trap cages.

In December 2025, one person was killed, and nine others were injured in leopard attacks in Chandyal, Badhyal and Malvana villages in the Balh area of Mandi district. The leopard was killed by the villagers