2 farmers dead in 2 days due to illegal electric fencing

AGRA: A day after a 30-year-old farmer died after coming in contact with an electric fence that he had illegally installed in his field to protect crops from stray cattle in UP's Budaun on Tuesday, another farmer lost his life to such electric fencing at a village in Aligarh on Wednesday night.
Victim Anwar Khan, 43, was a resident of Panhea village in Aligarh district.His son, Ansar Khan, told TOI, "My father had gone to the field at night to irrigate our field. Without realising that our neighbour, Pappu Lala, had erected an electric fence on his field adjacent to ours, my father touched it and was electrocuted to death."
Police registered a case on Thursday following a complaint filed by Khan's family members. The body was handed over to the family after postmortem.
SHO of Palimukeempur police station Rishipal Kasana said, "A case was registered under IPC section 304A (causing death by negligence). The accused is at large, and police teams have been formed to nab him." Since 2022, at least 17 people have died in western UP, with seven reported deaths this year so far due to electrocution caused by illegal electric fences.
On January 30 this year, a 40-year-old villager died after he came in contact with an electric fence at a farm near Maheshpur forest in Lakhimpur Kheri district.
On February 17, a 50-year-old farmer died after he stepped on a live wire while crossing the field of his neighbours to reach his field at a village in Aligarh. Illegal electric fencing also claimed the life of a 29-year-old farmer in Shahjahanpur on April 30, this year.