Sheila doesn't know what to say. She fought a two-year-long legal battle to get Gurmeet and Kulmeet convicted. Now, she finds asking herself whether it was worth it. ``It would have been better if I had not sought justice. At least, my leg could have been saved.''

Working as farmhands, Sheila and her husband Kala Singh live in Mohar Singh Wala village, about 2 km from here. They have a 17-year-old son who now lives with a relative in Haryana afraid that the culprits may get him next.

On April 28, District and Sessions Judge NirmalSingh ruled in the case, filed by Sheila, sentencing each of the two brothers to 10 years in prison.

As soon as the verdict came, the culprits escaped and the next night, assaulted Sheila when she was sleeping, chopped off her leg with a sharp-edged weapon.

The police say they are looking for the brothers but there's been no success so far. No senior police officer was available for comment. Sub Inspector Jaswant Singh, who is handling the case, claimed that they would soon succeed in arresting the culprits.

The case has raised serious questions about the role of the police and coordination between the police and the judiciary. Ironically, the culprits walked out of the court in broad daylight and there was only one policeman escorting them.

Judge Nirmal Singh, when contacted, said that this being the first case of its kind here, nobody thought of having extra policemen on the day of the ruling. ``In fact, it is the duty of the naib court to ask for deployment of security guards on the day,'' hesaid.

While gloom has descended on Sheila's village, fear keeps residents of Jhuge Nihangar, the village where Kulmeet and Gurmeet lived, from talking. The two villages are barely a kilometer apart.

When The Indian Express met Sheila at the hospital today, she said that when she was raped, many villagers told her to forget it.