Dehradun elephant attack: wild elephant steps on biker twice on highway, rider appears unhurt
News18 places the encounter on Dehradun Airport Road on Wednesday night, while two other outlets say it happened near Nepali Farm around 4 am on Thursday.
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The Dehradun elephant attack video shows a wild elephant stepping on a motorcyclist twice on the Haridwar-Dehradun highway in Uttarakhand, with the man back on his feet moments later, Gujarat Samachar reported on Thursday 12 November. The clip, shot near Nepali Farm, has spread widely on social media, NewsX said.
What the Dehradun elephant attack video shows
Gujarat Samachar said the elephant stepped on the biker’s stomach and chest twice and that the man was pinned beneath its feet. The man “managed to get back on his feet moments after the animal moved away, apparently escaping without any visible injuries”, the report said. NewsX described visibility on the road as poor because of the darkness.
News18 said in a post on X that the elephant afterwards broke through a roadside railing and went into the forest. The rider “reportedly survived the encounter”, it added. None of the reports names him.
Where and when it happened near Nepali Farm
Gujarat Samachar placed the encounter near Nepali Farm at around 4 am on Thursday. NewsX gave the same area on the same highway. News18 told it differently. Its post says the elephant attacked a man riding a Bullet motorcycle near Dehradun Airport on Wednesday night, 11 November, on Dehradun Airport Road.
The timings also sit awkwardly together. Gujarat Samachar said the cab driver who filmed it posted the video on Facebook at 3.46 am on 12 November, which is earlier than the 4 am it gives for the incident. NIS could not settle the exact time from the published reports.
Key numbers
- Twice: the number of times the elephant stepped on the biker, per Gujarat Samachar.
- Around 4 am: the time Gujarat Samachar gives for the encounter, on Thursday 12 November.
- 3.46 am: when the video was posted on Facebook on 12 November, per Gujarat Samachar.
- Wednesday night, 11 November: the date News18 gave in its post.
Rajaji Tiger Reserve and the haridwar Dehradun highway
Gujarat Samachar called the area “Rajaji Tiger Reserve, a hotspot for elephant sightings”. NewsX carried a Kumaon Jagran post that called the episode “another reminder of the growing human-wildlife conflict in Uttarakhand”.
The state has had other elephant stories this week. Our report on the missing tusks followed an arrest over five tusks that vanished from a forest storeroom. Wider state news is on our Uttarakhand page.
What Shiva Sharma, who filmed it, said
The video was recorded by Shiva Sharma, a cab driver and digital content creator who was passing through, according to Gujarat Samachar. He said the Haridwar-Dehradun route was generally easy to travel on, but that conditions could become unpredictable because elephants sometimes emerge suddenly on the highway. He called the biker “extremely fortunate”, the paper reported.
Gujarat Samachar added a safety note: drivers are advised to reduce speed, avoid approaching wild elephants and keep a safe distance if an animal is spotted on or near the road.
What happens next after the Dehradun elephant attack
None of the reports carries a statement from the police or the forest department. They do not say whether the rider had a medical check, or whether any step is planned for this stretch. An official account of the time and place would settle the gap between the reports.
Elephants cross the Haridwar-Dehradun road near Rajaji Tiger Reserve, so riders and drivers using it at night face a real risk of an encounter, and this clip shows how close one can come. The reports carry no official statement, so it is unclear whether the forest department or the police will act on this stretch.