GHAZIABAD: A leopard wounded at least five people on Wednesday when it strayed into a courthouse on the outskirts of India’s capital, police said.

A leopard was caught four hours after it entered the court premises, India Today reported.

According to bystanders, the leopard suddenly arrived on the first floor of the Ghaziabad court around 4pm. Chaos and commotion pervaded the court premises as people ran helter-skelter in search of safety and lawyers locked themselves up in rooms.

Footage of the incident circulated on social media showed several men injured in the attack, including one man who was carried away from the courthouse while watched by onlookers.

Body-armour-clad police were waving flaming sticks and laying out nets inside the courthouse in an effort to corral the creature. “The leopard jumped around in the court complex in panic and five to six people were injured.

Efforts are on to capture it,“ an officer in the local police station told earlier, declining to give his name.

Ghaziabad is close to an expanse of forest that is a leopard habitat.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2023