'Not a single animal attacked us': Russian woman who lived in Gokarna cave defends life in jungle

Kutina and her daughters, both born in India, were discovered by police last week, living in a natural cave near Ramatirtha on Gokarna Hill.

The Russian woman who was rescued from a remote cave near Karnataka's Gokarna, along with her two young daughters, has reportedly spoken out against her removal, describing their jungle life as peaceful, safe, and more harmonious than anything human society could offer.

In a message sent via WhatsApp to a friend and a police officer, Nina Kutina, 40, expressed deep sorrow over being forced out of what she called a “cosy, comfortable life” in nature. “Once again, evil has won,” she wrote, mourning the end of her forest life, as has been learnt from an Indian Express report.

“We were placed in a prison without sky, without grass, without a waterfall… with an icy hard floor.”

Kutina and her daughters, both born in India, were discovered by police last week, living in a natural cave near Ramatirtha on Gokarna Hill. This area is prone to landslides and inhabited by venomous snakes.

Authorities, alarmed by the safety risks, immediately persuaded the family to return to town and have since moved them to a women’s care centre in Karwar.

Kutina, in her message, has, however, lashed out at what she called society’s “baseless fears” about nature. “Not once in our entire life there did a snake ever harm us. Not a single animal attacked us. For many years, the only thing we feared was people,” she has written.

“Rain is the best thing that nature gives us,” she further writes. “In their fancy houses, it is the same as in the cave, only worse. Because besides the same issues, there is a pile of negatives instead of positives. And both piles are massive.”

“They are convinced they have the right to act like this. And they carry out these horrifying vigilante ‘justices’ based purely on their fears, on childish fairytales, not on real experience," she further noted.

Kutina, according to police, entered India on a business visa in October 2016 and remained long after it expired, spending years in hiding, mostly in Goa and later in Gokarna. She briefly left the country for Nepal in 2018 but returned and continued living undocumented.

The cave where she had been staying for about two months was previously known to her from past visits to the area.

Uttara Kannada Superintendent of Police Narayana M described her as “deeply disillusioned with human society, yet still compassionate and spiritually grounded.”

Her daughters, both reportedly born during this extended stay in India, are now in government care with her. Police have located Kutina’s passport near the cave but said she remains tight-lipped about the identity of the children’s father or the circumstances of their births.