Teen Girl Martial Arts Student Cornered in an Alley Beats Up 3 Attackers to Protect Sister, Self

(Illustration - VibhaSrivastava/Shutterstock)

A teenage martial arts student from West Bengal, India, fought back when three men attempted to attack her and her sister on the street. The teen’s bravery fast became an inspiring example of strength for young women everywhere.

Priyanka Singha Roy, 18, had been studying Taekwondo for 10 months when her skills were put to the test in a real-life scenario. Roy was on her way to a shop in the town of Sainthia in West Bengal’s Birbhum district in March 2018, accompanied by her younger sister on a bicycle, when the pair ran into trouble.

According to The Better India, the shop was only half a kilometer from the girls’ home, but they had to traverse a deserted alleyway to get there, and that’s where trouble arose. Three men blocked the girls’ path, making rude, threatening comments and eventually reaching for the elder sister’s hand.

As reported by the Indian news outlet, Roy initially tried to reason with the three men threatening herself and her sister, but before long it became clear she would have to resort to more forceful measures.

A local neighbor, having heard a commotion, later told the Hindustan Times that they rushed to the alleyway and found Roy with her three assailants already incapacitated on the ground. “She told us that she punished them for misbehaving with her,” said the neighbor, Anirban Sen. “Her courage will inspire others in the area.”

After arriving on the scene, the police named and shamed the three attackers, all said to have been in their mid-twenties. N. Sudheer Kumar, Birbhum district’s superintendent of police, stated that Roy “displayed rare bravery by dealing with the youths in the way she did.”

Roy’s mother spoke proudly of her eldest daughter for saving both herself and her younger sister from the unprovoked attack. “My daughter is a keen student of martial arts,” she began. “The youths were not aware of her skills.”

“My daughter initially asked them to restrain themselves,” Roy’s mother continued, “but they paid no heed and continued with their lewd behavior. Then she beat them up.”

(Illustration - Bannaluck Chuenjaidee/Shutterstock)

Roy’s impressive victory over the three would-be attackers won her both viral fame and a posse of young female fans. According to 5th-degree Taekwondo black belt Master Iva E. Nicholas, of Indiana in the United States, as of 2020, more young girls and women are taking part in Taekwondo classes than ever before.

Nicholas, who runs Hoosier Taekwondo training school, explains that Taekwondo can be an invaluable self-defense tool for any young practitioner; for young women in particular, Nicholas maintains that the discipline can help create a healthy, positive, and strong self-image.

The myriad additional benefits of Taekwondo, says Nicholas, may include teaching self-awareness, gaining peer respect, improving physical self-image—perhaps best demonstrated by Roy in the deserted alleyway in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, stopping bullies or attackers in their tracks.

Roy herself was unavailable for comment after her impressive display of martial arts prowess back in March 2018; the 18-year-old student returned to school the day after the attack to sit her class-12 board exams.

“I have faith in my daughter,” Roy’s mother stated to the Hindustan Times. “I am confident that she will do well in the exams, too.”