Indian labourer fights off leopard attack in Gladiator style with his bare hands

It was Gladiator, Bollywood style.

A 35-year-old construction worker in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh was filmed this week literally fighting tooth and nail with a leopard for his life, using nothing but brute force and nifty wrestling skills.

In a video that has been viewed over 350,000 times after it was posted at one X account on June 24, Mr Mihilal Gautam can be seen using his entire weight to press down on the neck, head and limbs of a large wild leopard at a brick kiln.

The big cat was hiding inside the kiln’s chimney and pounced as Mr Gautam, who was gathering ash, approached, according to a report in The Indian Express.

With his life on the line, Mr Gautam - who was unarmed - managed to wrestle the leopard to the ground and pin it there.

In the video, the leopard is seen clawing at Mr Gautam with its hind legs and trying to take a bite of his hands and head.

The other workers hear Mr Gautam screaming and gather around him and the leopard from an elevated ledge.

From there, they pelt the leopard with heavy bricks, mostly hitting its exposed posterior.

The big cat eventually fled towards a nearby banana field, reported The Indian Express.

Mr Gautam was treated for severe injuries, but he lived.

“This man fought a leopard empty-handed and survived. That is not something we see every day,” Mr Nripendra Chaturvedi, a forest ranger, told The Free Press Journal.

While many others who have seen the viral video praised Mr Gautam for his grit and tenacity, there were some who wondered why the gaggle of men who saw him wrestling with the leopard did not do more than just throwing bricks.

“Is this crowd so effete that all they could do is pelt stones and bricks from above and watch as a single man risks his life to fight a leopard?” one commenter asked on X.

There were those who were on the leopard’s side.

“What can animals do when their habitats are destroyed? Of course they will encroach into human habitation,” said one user on YouTube.

Another said that it seemed to him Mr Gautam was actually trying to protect the leopard from being stoned to death by covering the wild animal with his body.

Forest rangers searched for the leopard, but the wounded animal, when cornered, attacked again, leaving five people in the search party injured.

Police later joined in the search.

Wildlife officials eventually found and subdued the leopard with a tranquiliser.

The local forest management office is now assessing the animal’s condition and plans to relocate it to a rescue centre, The Free Press Journal reported.