Will trek the hill again: Kerala youth after respite from trespassing case 

Babu, the 23-year-old youth, who was rescued after spending a harrowing 45 hours trapped in the cleft of a mountain face in Kerala’s Palakkad district, has said that the episode has not dampened his spirits and that he will try to trek the hill again.

“This is the first time I am climbing to the top of the hill. I am interested in trekking and will try trekking the hill again,” Babu told Indian Express.

The trekker’s statement comes a day after the Kerala government prevented the state forest department from booking him for allegedly trespassing the forest range, which comes under protected area.

Stating that any action against Babu may not go down well with the public at this point, state minister of forest AK Saseendran on Thursday said that the situation needs to be assessed by the chief minister and forest officials before any step is taken.

“Preliminary information is that Babu and others are not permitted to go to the forest as per the rules. However, it would not be appropriate to consider the rules in situations like this,” he said.

The forest department had earlier planned to file a case of trespassing against Babu under Section 27 of the Kerala Forest Act, as the Cheradu Kurumbachi Hills which Babu and his friends trekked falls under the protected forest region where access is denied to the general public.

The youth from Kerala on Friday was discharged from the district hospital, two days after he was heroically rescued by a team led by the Indian Army from the Kurumbachi Hills near his village in Cheradu in Malampuzha.

Babu said he and two of his friends had embarked on the trek, aiming to summit the 1,000 feel hill on Monday. While his friends, exhausted by the trek took a break at around 2 pm, Babu kept hiking. He reached the peak, but while returning slipped down the rock into one of its cavities.

“Although I remained trapped on the hill for two nights and a day, I was not afraid. From the hillside cavity, where I was trapped, I could watch people gathering downhill to save me. I was aware that the people were making attempts to save me. I was confident that I would be rescued,” he said.

While the youth fought on for survival for two nights and a day without food and water, he was finally rescued on Wednesday after Army commandos, NDRF personnel and expert mountaineers hauled him to safety. Earlier efforts by the police, NDRF, fire department and Navy had failed to rescue the youth.