65-yr-old MP woman strangles jackal with sari, found unconscious beside carcass

BHOPAL: In a fight straight out of a survival thriller, a 65-year-old woman from Shivpuri district in Madhya Pradesh strangled a jackal with her sari after battling it for nearly half an hour.

Mauled and left unconscious in the fields, she regained consciousness six hours later in hospital — with 18 bite wounds on her body.The woman, Surajia Bai Jatav, was cutting fodder in her field near Barkhadi village under Badarwas police station around 5 pm on Monday when the jackal leapt at her, biting her legs and hands. Believing she would not survive, she fought back with her bare hands, say sources.Alone and bleeding, she grabbed the jackal’s jaws and pinned it down.

But the struggle dragged on until, in desperation, she tore part of her sari, fashioned it into a noose, and tightened it around the animal’s neck. With the last of her strength, she strangled it before collapsing unconscious.Her grandson Devendra said the family rushed to the spot after being alerted by villagers. “We found her unconscious, soaked in blood, and the jackal lying dead with her sari around its neck,” he said.

She was taken to a nearby health centre and later referred to the district hospital, where she regained consciousness at midnight.Doctors said Surajia Bai had 18 deep wounds, placing her in Category 2 of animal-bite cases. She is being administered anti-rabies injections and is stable. “We expect her to recover in a week,” said district hospital doctors.The attack has revived fears in the family. Just months ago, Surajia’s brother-in-law was also mauled by a jackal. Though he initially survived, he later developed rabies-like symptoms and died. The family, which owns barely four bighas of farmland, is struggling to cope with yet another crisis, say locals.