Shahjahanpur: In one of the most horrific and brutal cases of stalking coming out of Uttar Pradesh in recent times, a 15-year-old girl, a student of class IX, was chased by her stalker who pinned her to the ground and chopped off one of her hands with a sword in full public view in a busy Lakhimpur Kheri market on Wednesday.The girl had been fending off his advances for a while, but was helpless in stopping the attack as she reached the milling market area of Fatehpur Saidri at about 3 pm and her stalker, a man identified as Vinod Chaurasia, spotted her. Angry that she rebuffed him again, Chaurasia grabbed a sword which he kept handy in the iron welding shop he worked in and ran after her. Though a crowd of some 200-300 people who soon gathered at the spot could not save the girl from the assault, they later overpowered Chaurasia and handed him over to police.“One of her hands fell off while the youth kept striking at her other hand even as people overpowered him and rescued the girl from certain death,” Akhilesh Rastogi, a local resident and an eyewitness, told TOI.The girl was rushed to the district hospital but was later referred to Lucknow as her condition deteriorated rapidly. A doctor at the Kheri district hospital said, “She had lost a lot of blood and she was critical. That’s why she was sent to Lucknow for treatment.”Kheri superintendent of police S Chinappa said, “Our priority is the health of the girl, who is in a serious condition. Once her condition improves, we will record her statement following which the motive of the attack can be clearly ascertained.”This came even as police said the accused had been harassing the girl for the past many days, following which she had complained about it to her parents.UP of late has seen some ghastly attacks on women. On August 10, two sisters, Gulshan, 19, and Fiza, 16, were set ablaze by two stalkers in their sleep in Devraniya Jagir, Bareilly. While Gulshan died on August 13, Fiza breathed her last two days later. The two stalkers were arrested and sent to jail.On August 8, 17-year-old Ragini Dubey was stabbed by goons who were after her in Baansdih Road police station area of Ballia as she was going to school on her bicycle. She was rushed to the district hospital where she was declared brought dead.