Woman fights off leopard with sickle in Pithoragarh village

Pithoragarh: A 40-year-old woman fought off a leopard with a sickle after the animal attacked her in a village in Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh district on Wednesday evening.Nirmala Bisht, a resident of Gauraiya village, was on her way to work in her fields when a leopard suddenly emerged from bushes along the path and attacked her, a local resident, Vinod Singh, said.Armed with a sickle, Bisht struck the animal repeatedly while raising an alarm. People working nearby rushed to her rescue, forcing the big cat to retreat and flee into the forest.Villagers immediately took her to the district hospital, where she was admitted with multiple injuries. A doctor said Bisht had deep wounds on her body and marks from two canines on her left hand. Her condition is stable and out of danger, he added.Local resident Manish Joshi said villagers were shocked by the incident as students and labourers use the path daily. They demanded that the animal be captured.Forest department officials later sent a team to patrol the area and appealed to villagers to remain alert at night, said Dinesh Joshi, ranger of the Pithoragarh range.