UP: Farmer ends life in Hathras after losing crops to stray cattle

AGRA: A 22-year-old farmer, whose crops were reportedly destroyed by stray cattle, committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree in Hathras’s Bhojpur village on Thursday morning.
Locals claimed that the deceased farmer, identified as Arjun, was depressed after his millet crop was destroyed by the stray cattle and he feared that he would not get adequate compensation for it from the government.
Talking to TOI, the deceased’s uncle Narendra said that Arjun worked as a labourer in Surat and came back to his village just a few days ago. “Millet grown on his nearly 3 bighas of land was completed destroyed by stray cattle," said Narendra, adding that he had fainted in his fields after seeing it yesterday.
“We took him to his house and counselled him that everything will be alright but around 10pm he went out without informing anyone,” said Arjun’s uncle.
He said, this morning Arjun’s body was found hanging from a tree, just 500 meter away from his house. “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 post-mortem.
Despite repeated promises by the state government to overcome the stray cattle menace in the state, 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 the 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.