It was like watching Dangal. Women wrestled, tackled and pinned men down to the ground. One woman after another and the Book Fair grounds erupted in applause.

For the last three months, the Bidhannagar police commissionerate has been training women in self-defence, in a project named Sukanya, and these students demonstrated their skills at the Book Fair last weekend. There were students, homemakers, software professionals and even a 70-year-old woman in the fray.

The crowd stared disbelievingly when Susmita Gayen, a college student who weighs just 40kg, threw the tall and strapping volunteer Bishal Sahu to the ground. “I’m so thin my parents had said I wouldn’t be able to learn martial arts. But I was persistent,” says the resident of Nimtala. “Because of Saraswati puja the day after, they couldn’t attend the demonstration at the Book Fair but I showed them the video later and they couldn’t believe it! Now my elder sister and neighbours want to learn too.”

The mixed martial arts (MMA) training was imparted by 360 Degree Sports, that has two branches in the city teaching kickboxing, grappling and wrestling and was led by coaches Supriya Samanta and Partha Sarathi Sarkar.

The women had joined the course with their share of self-doubt — my leg won’t go that far up, do I have to fall on the ground for this move, maybe I’ll just watch the others — but Sarkar was clear about his brief to them. “Self-defence is not a sport. Everything is unfair here — there’s no weight category — your offender will be heavier than you and there could be more than one man attacking the woman together. What we teach is not to “win” the fight but to find a 10-second window for her to run away,” he said.

Jharna Maitra, a 70-year-old resident of EE Block, demonstrated the Kimura wrist-lock and scarf-hold position around her opponent’s neck, thereby rendering him helpless. “Times are so bad that every woman regardless of age must know how to defend herself,” said the silver-haired, otherwise delicate-looking, lady. “I’m suffering from diabetes for over 40 years now but that’s no excuse to be helpless. So I signed up for the course along with my two daughters and now my neighbours are asking me to teach them a move or two.”

Tumpa Dey’s husband enrolled her for the course. “His IT sector job is so demanding that I’m usually on my own managing the home front. He and his parents wanted me to be alert and prepared,” said the home-maker from Madhyamgram. The classes would take place at Salt Lake stadium from 8.30 to 10am on Saturdays but Tumpa’s in-laws would take care of her son and chores so she could attend the classes.

“Other women in my locality aren’t this lucky. All the women here want to learn but they receive no support from their families,” she said. “I’m planning to teach them whatever I’ve learnt.”

Although this was her first stint with martial arts, Vedica Palchoudhuri remembers slapping a chap who tried to harass her and her sister. She even wanted to become a police officer. “I loved the course and plan to enrol and compete in MMA events later,” said Vedica, whose teenage daughter Reetaja and sister Vieta completed the course too. The geography teacher had been practising the moves on her son and husband at home but the two asked to be spared after a few falls.

Amit Javalgi, deputy commissioner, headquarters, Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate, was happy with the outcome of Sukanya. “We have an ongoing project to raise awareness about harassment in schools, colleges and workplaces but when we decided to offer this MMA course, we wanted to extend it to women of all ages,” said Javalgi.

“We wanted them to build confidence and realise that if one knows the right techniques, one can overpower even a stronger person. We shall start the second edition of Sukanya in two or three weeks. Details will be uploaded on our website and Facebook page.”

Take that! Jharna Maitra, a 70-year-old resident of EE Block, demonstrates the Kimura wrist lock. Mayukh Sengupta