Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Wednesday presented the Kalpana Chawla Award for Courage and Daring Enterprise for the year 2018 to I. Muthumari, a tea plantation worker, who saved her daughter from a leopard by single-handedly counter-attacking the animal.
The award was presented during the 72nd Independence Day celebrations at Fort St. George in Chennai.
On May 25, a leopard entered her residence and attacked her 11-year-old daughter Sathya.
On hearing her daughter scream for help, she swung into action, attacking the big cat single-handedly with the help of a wooden log to chase it away.
She is planning to use the award money to fund her two daughters’ education.