A 59-year-old woman on her regular morning walk fought off a snatcher who had targeted her gold chain in a desolate Kankurgachhi lane three days ago. Sumita Ghosh first parried and then punched the young assailant, her fitness regimen for years paying off when she needed it most.

Sumita has a bruise on her neck and a scraped knee to show for her fight but it could have been worse, as other snatcher victims have found out in recent months. The spunky lady recounts to Metro the incident that “shook her up”, though not so much that she would quit walking.

I was up at 5am as usual on Thursday to get ready for my daily walk. I have been a resident of Maniktala Main Road for over three decades and a member of the local laughing club for the last 10 years. The park where we meet is hardly a 10-minute walk from my house.

The sun had just cast its first rays when I stepped out in my salwar-kameez and sneakers at 5.45am. My husband, a retired merchant navy officer, and my son, who works for an IT firm, were still asleep, as was most of the neighbourhood.

Like every morning, I took a short cut to the park through a quiet lane behind my house called Nasta Gully in CIT scheme VII-M. The lane, around 150 metres long, was deserted except for an elderly member of the laughing club who was well ahead of me.

I was walking with my hands folded and eyes half shut in suryanamaskar when I espied a tall man in the distance walking towards me with his face covered by a white cloth, except for his eyes. I did not pay much attention until I saw the man with a mobile phone pressed to his left ear walking straight towards me.

I still did not sense danger though because nothing like this had happened to me in all these years. It was only when the man tried to waylay me that I yelled: “Aye! Ki hocche (Hey! What’s happening)?”

Before I could comprehend his motive, he grabbed my gold chain. I held on to it with my left hand, determined not to let the assailant get away so easily. The S-shaped hook of the chain got entangled in my dupatta, making it more difficult for me to fight back. I started landing punches on him with my right hand even as I tried to extricate the chain from his grasp.

Then the chain, weighing around 12gm and worth Rs 30,000, snapped.

I tried to shout for help but couldn’t do so because he now had one hand around my neck. I kept punching him. Unable to snatch the chain, he kicked me hard on my left knee and I fell. I screamed for help. I am told my screams woke up some people in the nearby houses but the snatcher was in no mood to flee. He bent towards me and attempted to snatch my earrings this time. I caught him by the wrist.

A few people had appeared at the other end of the lane by then. I could make out they were running towards me. A voice called out to the snatcher just then — an accomplice of his was apparently waiting for him nearby on a motorbike. The snatcher let go of me and made a dash towards him.

I was stunned to see the bike speeding away the moment my assailant neared it. He started shouting “Chor, chor… bike chor (thief, thief…bike thief)”, pretending to be the victim. Those who had rushed to my help were so confused that some started running after the bike. The snatcher fled.

Several hands reached out to help me to my feet but my neck was hurting and so was my knee. I was breathing so hard I could barely talk.

I did consider lodging a police complaint but didn’t do so because I felt nothing would come of it.

My chain and earrings were with me, so I let it be. A police van that used to patrol the park and the nearby lanes stopped doing so a year ago. There was no cop in sight despite me continuously screaming for help. I was lucky that day but others might not be.

As told to Sushovan Sircar