UPCCW

1989

Name and Address: Master Prabhakar, C/o Mr Om Prakash Govil, C-33, Chandranagar, Delhi-UP Border, Ghaziabad-201001

Age: 11 years

On June 30, 1988, Prabhakar and Nitin while playing near water tank met with an accident. Sudenly Nitin slipped and fell into the tank. With Prabhakar’s presence of mind, he climbed on the wall and stretched his hand. He succeeded in holding Nitin’s shirt by which he pulled the boy out of the tank and saved the boy’s life. It is worth mentioning that Prabhakar's one arm is non-functional.

1988

Names and Addresses: Master Shivam Shukla and Master Shivoham Shuka, 31, Mahipal nagar, Rai Bareli -229001

Ages: 13 years (Shivam) and 11 years (Shivoham)

Shivam and Shivoham displayed admirable determination and sense of duty in saving the lives of two men. On July 14, 1987, Mr JP Shukla and Dr SB Shukla were bathing in the Ganga when suddenly they started sinking. Shivam and Shivoham who were present there came to their aid. Tying one end of a dhoti to a tree they threw the other end toward the drowning men. The young boys held on firmly to the dhoti till the two gentlemen came out the deep water.

Name and Address: Master Rajiv Alias Guttu, C/o Mr Chotte Lal, Sunder Photo Studio, Near Bus stand, Modinagar-201204, Ghaziabad

Age: 11 years

The incident occurred on May 26, 1987. Rajiv and his friend were on their way to buy milk and were crossing the railway track near Tibra Railway crossing about a kilometre from Modinagar railway station when Rajiv noticed a powerful bomb implanted on the track. Realising the impending danger the young boy immediately started screaming. Within moments a large number of people gathered on the spot and Modinagar railway station was informed. A result the incoming Frontier Mail was stopped by the station authorities at the outer signal. A police squad removed the bomb and army expert later defused it.

But for Rajiv’s presence of the mind and timely action, thousands of people may have lost their lives.

Name and Address: Master Ashok Kumar, C/o Mr Ram Chander Mishra, B-1/16 Type II, GT Road Post Cob Kanpur -13

Age: 10 years

Ten-year-old Ashok's keen power of observation and courageous act helped in apprehending a miscreant. On December 7, 1987, Ashok and his younger brother Anand were going towards Golf Course Colony when they were kidnapped. The culprit was taking them away on rickshaw when the children’s father saw and stopped them. Though Ashok and Anand were saved the kidnapper fled.

A week later on December 15, 1987, Ashok noticed the same man going on a bicycle with a child sitting on it. He chased the miscreant for about a mile and as soon as they reached Golf Course Colony the young boy screamed for help. Hearing his loud cries some army jawans rushed to the scene. The kidnapper was overpowered and handed over to the police.

Name and Address: Master Brajendra Kumar (posthumous), C/o Dr Sadashiv Bhartiya, Brahmanand Mahavidyalaya, Rath, District Hamirpur-210431

Age: 14 years

A group of 42 students and three teachers went for a bath at Rani Ghat of the River Ganga on November 5, 1987. While bathing one of the students started drowning. Seven other students jumped into the water and tried to save him but as the water was very deep there they too started drowning. Seeing this Pratap and Brajendra, who were standing near by jumped into the river. They managed to push all the eight students to the shore and saved them by their valiant efforts. Unfortunately Brajendra himself was swept away by the strong current and drowned.

1986

Name and Address: Master Rajendra Gupta, S/o Mr Ganesh Prasad Gupta, 165/12 Babupurwa Colony Kidwai Nagar, Kanpur

Age: 12 years

The incident occurred on April 11,1986, at about 5 p.m. when Rajendra was studying, his mother had gone to the market and his younger sister was making tea in the kitchen . All of a sudden there was a  gas leakage and within moments the kitchen was caught up in flames. Panic stricken young girl screamed. Hearing her cries Rajendra rushed to the spot and pulled his sister out of the fire. Noticing that the fire was slowly advancing to the mouth of the cylinder and realising that this could lead to a blast, the brave boy leaped into the engulfing flame and crawled towards the cylinder to switch it off. Rajendra sustained burn injuries in the process. Had there been a blast the lives and property of 14 families (comprising 65 people) living in the block would have been endangered. Rajendra thus prevented an unimaginable tragedy from occurring.

Name and Address: Ms Reena, Village Haidar Nagar, PO Baghra, District Muzaffarnagar

Age: 2 years

The incident occurred on June 21, 1986, when Ravi was cleaning a wooden trunk at home. Reena was playing while her aunt and Gautam were sleeping in the next room. Ravi had opened the lid of the trunk and had moved inside to clean it. A kerosene lamp was burning inside the box. All of a sudden the lid snapped shut. Ravi tried his best to open the lid but his efforts went into vain. Helpless he yelled out Reena, but the little girl was unable to open the latch. Ravi then asked Reena to call Gautam from the other room. Reena went and did likewise but Gautam did not pay any attention to her. When Reena’s repeated request went unheeded the little girls picked up a small stick and hit Gautam with it. She then start weeping and led Gautam to the room where Ravi was trapped. Hearing Ravi’s cries for help, Gautam opened the latch and pulled him out. Reena’s presence of the mind thus saved Ravi from suffocation inside the box.

Name and Address: Master Awdesh Kumar, S/o Mr Siya Ram (Haroda Wala), Mhalla Awaji Ganj, Dundvara, District Etah-207242

Age: 14 years

On 31st July 1985 Awdesh Kumar had gone to Kadarganj along with his friends for a holy bath in the Ganges. He saw a sever year old child who was drowning in the deep waters. He immediately jumped into the river and brought the child to safety risking his own life.

1982

Name and Address: Master Bharat Mani, C/o Mr Ajab Singh, 159 Gurdwara Road, BT Ganj Roorkee

Age: 10 years

On September 20, 1981, Ms Ruchi, aged 15 years, accidently fell into the Ganga canal, Roorkee. Bharat Mani a shepherd boy grazing cows nearby saw Ruchi drowning and crying for help. Seeing that there was nobody around to help Ruchi, he immediately jumped into the 15 feet deep  canal. After swimming for a distance of about a furlong, he succeeded in rescuing the girl by taking hold of her hair and pulling her up out of the canal.

But for Bharat mani’s quick action and exemplary courage, Ruchi would have drowned.

Name and Address: Master Ajmal Khan Gauhar, S/o Mr Johar Shastri, Near Dr Salim Keit Ka Pere, Sufi Tola, Purana Shar, Bareilly

Age: 8 years

Young Ajmal khan has performed several brave and useful deeds and has won the appreciation of both district and state authorities. Some signification deeds performed by him which may be mentioned here are as follows.

The courageous young patriot was instrumental in finding out the clues in a criminal case without caring for his own life. He then passed on the information to the police which led to the arrest of the criminal Thakur Mani the absconding accused in the case.

1980

Name and Address: Master Satish Kumar Phul Singh (Sanjay Chopra Award), C/o Mr Prem Kumar, Zila Bal Vikas Parishad, Saharanpur

Age: 13 years

Around midnight of February 14, 1980, Ramnagar, a Harijan village, was attacked by nine armed dacoits. They entered Mamchand’s (a neighbour of Satish Phul Singh ) house and started firing and abusing the villagers. The noise awoke Satish household and they were in a dilemma as to what they should do.  Satidh quietly crept out and warned the whole village about the attack. The villagers surrounded Mamchand’s house. Courageous Satish quietly climbed a wall to reach Mamchand’s roof. From there he threw a brick at one of the dacoits which broke the rifle into two. This angered the dacoits and they stared firing in all directions, using a battery torch to see as it was pitch dark. This did not scare young Satish, but he could not do much till he knew how many dacoits were in the house. Using his presence of mind he lit up a bundle of hay and threw it in the centre  of the room. This lit up the whole place. The dacoit took advantage of this and fired at Satish, injuring him very seriously. Satish then lost consciousness. This act of bravery by the young boy instilled courage and a will to fight in the villagers, and a fierce battle ensued between the dacoits and the villagers for two-and-a-half hours. The villagers fought with bricks and stones. In the event many villagers lost their lives, and the leader of the dacoits was caught. Satish was hospitalised in the state hospital where he struggled between life and death for many days.

Name and Address: Ms Shyama Sharma, C/o Mr Birbal Sharma, Village Gopalpur, PO Near Mathura Refinery, Mathura

Age: 5 years

In the evening of the October 4, 1979, a cluster of ten huts suddenly caught fire. Shyama was playing outside her hut when she suddenly realised that her one year old brother was trapped inside. No other family member was there. Without any thought of risk to her own life Shyama ran inside to save her brother. In the process she got a little burnt herself yet she managed to saver her little brother’s life.