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Crowds in a busy market fled in terror as a woman walked among them holding aloft the severed head of a man who had attacked her.
Covered in blood, she held the head high like a trophy, said police - her way of showing that she had delivered her own kind of justice to her attacker.
The gruesome scene was played out in Makkapurva village, 170 miles south east of the Indian city of Lucknow, where, last night, the woman was being held behind bars.
According to police officer Ram Bharose, the unnamed 35-year-old woman had sliced off the man's head with a sickle she had been using to cut grass near her village.
'She was getting grass for her cattle when the man came up from behind her and tried to sexually assault her,' said Mr Bharose.
'In a bid to save her dignity, she turned on him and during a struggle managed to chop off his head with the sickle.
'We have no doubts about her story because she had bite marks on her neck and cheek when the man tried to take advantage of her sexually.'
So determined was the woman to show that she had beaten off her attacker, who she claimed had been stalking her for three months, that she decided to take his head immediately to the local market.
'She put the head on parade,' said Mr Bharose. 'She walked right through all the crowds who were buying their vegetables, holding the head up high.
'All her clothes were covered in blood, but as far as she was concerned that didn't matter. She just wanted to make a point and she definitely succeeded in doing that.
'Everybody scattered. It was a very terrifying sight.' Mr Bharose said the woman had no regrets about her actions.
'We have to follow the letter of the law and although she says she acted in self defence she will probably be charged with culpable homicide,' said the police officer. The only real reason I posted this was because of this poorly worded line:
So determined was the woman to show that she had beaten off her attacker...
