Sankar says "As a person who visits this place (Pathanamthitta district of Kerala) quite often, wondered what I would have done if I was around when the leopard was spotted."

A simple question to him: What will you do when you see a terrorist with an AK 47? Will you try to get a glimpse of him or wait on the road for him to come out of the bush? I am sure you will run or drive away as fast as possible and hide.

So why were people crowding around the leopard? Naturally they knew that they are not going to lose their life due to a leopard. They know that the leopard is hiding and at best will take a swipe or two at them and they can then run away. It was more of fun for people.

People have no business to crowd around the leopard blocking its exit and disorienting it. The best possible way is to clamp Section 144 in such situations. Unfortunately, the police can't do so without approvals. So there ought to be blanket approvals for clamping Section 144 of the IPC whenever there is a presence of a wild animal like leopard, tiger, lion, elephant etc to avoid conflicts and give a chance to the animal to find its exit route.