The self-defense skills she acquired as a civil defence volunteer came in handy for a 44-year-old woman in disarming and overpowering two teenagers who allegedly robbed her son on Sunday afternoon in east Delhi’s Shakarpur, the Delhi Police said on Tuesday

The woman escaped unhurt, even as locals from the area thrashed the knife-wielding boys, aged 15 and 16, police said, adding that the boys have since been apprehended.

The woman, Sapna Kumar, alleged that on Sunday, she sent her 14-year-old son with ₹500 to the grocery store, but he was robbed by the boys. “They told him to keep giving them money whenever they demanded but my son refused to oblige further,” said Sapna, alleging that the two boys were among a group of local thugs who extorted small amounts from the locals.

She said her son returned home and complained about the robbery but she told him to ignore the incident. “But in the evening, when I was alone at home, the two boys landed outside. They began threatening me to tell my sons to pay them money on a regular basis. When I refused, one of them pulled out a big knife and attacked me. I used the basics of my self-defence training to disarm him. They continued attacking me without the knife after that, but I overpowered both of them. Soon, the public gathered thrashed them, and called the police,” she said.