'Hell is here and now': The real story of an elephant and her calf's disturbing escape photo

The disturbing, yet powerful photograph of an elephant and her calf trying to flee from mob in West Bengal's Bankura has won the prestigious Sanctuary Wildlife Photography Awards.

The photograph shot by Biplab Hazra not only stunned everyone but also won him the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2017 (SEE: Incredible award-winning photographs of this year's winners), which was declared on Sunday.

The cruelty of man-animal conflict comes out in its most brazen form as one sees the calf and the mother elephant caught on tar road mid-way even as the humans clap and jeer the pachyderm.

Titled 'Hell is Here', the photographer talks about how these majestic animals have to bear this 'humiliation' as 'flaming tar balls and crackers fly through the air to a soundtrack of human laughter and shouts.'

Home to over 70 per cent of jumbo population the the entire world, India is the world’s stronghold for the Asian elephants.

But this achievement rings hollow as vital elephant habitats and routes continue to be ravaged, and human-elephant conflict escalates to a fatal degree.

Not just Bankura in West Bengal, other elephant-range states of Assam, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu, among others have also witnessed the disturbing trend.

This year, the competition drew over 5,000 entries from across Asia, beating all previous records.

The panel of judges including Bittu Sahgal, Editor, Sanctuary Asia; Steve Winter, National Geographic conservation photographer; Ganesh H Shanker, fine-art nature photographer; Kalyan Varma, conservation photographer and filmmaker; Dr Anish Andheria, conservation photographer and President, Wildlife Conservation Trust; Nayan Khanolkar, educationist, naturalist and wildlife photographer; Dr Parvish Pandya, Head, Science, Natural History and Photography, Sanctuary Asia and Lakshmy Raman, Executive Editor, Sanctuary Asia shared that they had a tough time choosing winners in several categories.