Woman fights off tiger with bare hands in Madhya Pradesh to save infant son

A woman in Jabalpur has fought off a tiger with her bare hands to protect her one-and-a-half-year-old child, reports said Tuesday.

The incident happened in Rohaniya village near the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh earlier this week. The tiger went for the infant boy when both of them were out on a farm, and the mother, identified as Archana Choudhary, put herself between the beast and her child.

The tiger then repeatedly struck her with its claws, but the woman stood her ground all the while, with no weapon to hit back nor a way to escape with her child. She kept crying out for help, and after nearly two minutes the tiger ran off when other people arrived.


A TOI report said the woman literally snatched the toddler from the tiger's jaws and didn't let go even after its claws stabbed into her lungs.

"We had the information that the tiger is roaming out and people were also coming to watch the tiger. The woman didn't know about the tiger and went out, where the tiger attacked her. Both of them were injured and were admitted to a government hospital. After that, they were shifted to Jabalpur Medical College. Currently, both the mother and child are fine," ANI quoted Lavit Bharti, manager of the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, as saying.

The child suffered a cut on his head, while the mother was mauled by the tiger and had injuries on different parts of her body. Both are reportedly out of danger.

Her husband, Bhola Choudhary, said they did not know that the tiger was out in the vicinity.

The district collector held a meeting with forest department officials, A search operation is underway to push the tiger back to its territory.