In the continued fallout from the monkey menace in Ghaziabad, a 45-year-old woman died after a group of simians orchestrated a partial wall collapse in Modinagar that led to 15-20 bricks falling on her head from a height of about 18-20 feet, causing her head injuries and eventually, leading to her death on Friday evening, police officials said.
The victim was identified as Raj Kumari, a resident of the Suchetapuri locality, who was standing in the lane outside the house where the wall collapse took place. She was attending a function in the neighbourhood, police said.
“Several monkeys climbed the wall constructed on the first floor of a neighbourhood house. As a result, several bricks were dislodged, and these fell directly on the head of the victim, who was standing in the lane outside the house. She was rushed by locals to a hospital and later referred to another hospital in Meerut, where she succumbed late Friday night,” said Amit Saxena, assistant commissioner of police (Modinagar circle).
Police said that the wall that collapsed was on the first floor of the house, and was cemented, but not plastered from the outside, leaving it fragile. Four to five other bystanders also suffered minor injuries, they said.
Usha Devi, the mother-in-law of the victim, said, “It was around 5.15pm on Friday that several monkeys jumped on the wall, and as a result, bricks fell on my daughter-in-law Raj Kumari, who was standing just below the wall in the lane. There is a wedding in our neighbourhood, and all residents were watching the pre-wedding rituals from the outside.”
“The bricks fell on her head directly, and her head ruptured. She fell unconscious. She was rushed to a hospital, but she could not survive,” she said.
Earlier on Friday, hundreds of locals from Modinagar’s Sikri Kalan also staged a protest against the monkey menace and expressed anger over official inaction in the matter. Residents targeted public programmes taking place on Friday to stage a protest in front of public representatives.
“The locals protested against the monkey menace and also gave a memorandum to the subdivisional magistrate. There was no violence during their protest,” the ACP said.
Due to increasing instances of monkey menace, Raj Nagar residents Vinit Sharma and Prajakta Singhal have already moved the Allahabad High Court in a public interest litigation, demanding action over the menace in Ghaziabad district.
“Looking at the overall fact situation of the case, despite all the respondents agreeing to the fact that the monkey menace does exist and is creating havoc with the lives of the public, none of the respondents apparently is prepared to take the responsibility to control the said menace. Each department is seeking to shift the responsibility to another,” the high court had observed while hearing the case on September 19.
Narendra Mohan Mishra, executive officer of Modinagar Nagar Palika, said, “We have taken steps to get rid of the monkey menace and have hired a team of monkey catchers from Mathura. However, they also face issues as monkeys move rapidly and migrate long distances easily. The team is working to trace and catch monkeys.”
The Nagar Palika of Modinagar, also a respondent in the PIL, in an affidavit filed in the court on July 10, had informed that a total of 845 monkeys were caught during the 2023-24 financial year and another 651 were caught in the 2024-25 financial year in Modinagar. They were released in the jungles of Surana, the affidavit said.