HT This Day: April 11, 1934 -- Two notorious dacoits killed by Sikh girl

Information has been received here of a daring act of bravery on the part of a Sikh girl who succeeded in killing two notorious dacoits in an encounter and capturing another who had been terrorising the villagers.

It is reported, Lal Singh, a notorious desperado for whose arrest Government announced a reward of Rs. 3,000 in cash and two squares of land, with three others invaded a village in a tehsil in Moga in the district of Ferozpore on the 8th instant. They attacked Harnam Kaur, the seventeen-year-old unmarried daughter of Gurmukh Singh, who was alone at that time in the house. Her father and brothers being working in the fields. Three of the dacoits climbed up the roof of the house leaving the fourth of them, Ghuggi Singh in the court-yard, who while trying to use his gun was pounced upon and wrenched of his gun by her which she handed over to her brother who returned from the fields in the meantime and killed the dacoit. His companions on the roof then opened indiscriminate firing, wounding Harnam Kaur in her thigh and chest. Nothing daunted her and she hid herself behind a wooden plank. Lal Singh and another dacoit came down from the roof leaving the fourth man there with a gun to ward off any further help from the village. As Lal Singh advanced towards the girl she pounced on his shoulder and caught him tight with the necklace the dacoit was wearing round his neck and pulled hard as the result whereof he fell down suffocated. Her brother then dealt a fatal blow despatching him thereby. The third dacoit attacked Gurmukh Singh, the father of the girl and severed his leg with a ‘chavvi’ causing his death. One brother of Harnam Kaur was also severely injured but he succeeded in securing the third dacoit while the fourth ran away from the roof.

Post Mortem Examination

Bullets from the body of Harnam Kaur and her brother were extracted and they are progressing in the Mcga Hospital. The dead body of her father has been sent for post mortem examination.

The Superintendent of Police, Ferozpore, visited the injured persons in the hospital and awarded Rs. 100 to Harnam Kaur to perform the last rites of her father.