Mohali, March 3 -- When 54-year-old Dhanna Devi caught hold of a masked snatcher near midnight in Zirakpur last week, residents were not surprised. For them, the anganwadi worker from Shiva Enclave, Bhabat, has always stepped in when trouble surfaces.

On late Friday night, Devi was returning home on foot from Babhat Road after finishing her duty at an anganwadi centre in Vikas Nagar, Mauli Jagran, Chandigarh. Near the T-Point at Dhillon Farm, two young men on a black Activa scooter approached her. Their faces were covered with cloth. Within seconds, the pillion rider tried to snatch her earrings.

"I did not care about my earrings," Devi recalls firmly. "I thought if I let them go today, they would target another woman tomorrow."

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