Other States - Himachal Pradesh   

Their awards came from jaws of death

Staff Correspondent

SHIMLA: Sulekha Devi, a frail but courageous woman from Kangra district in Himachal Pradesh, snatched her five-year-old son Munish from the jaws of a leopard on a wintry night last year. She caught the leopard by one hand while raining blows by the other hand. The leopard mauled the boy and dragged both of them at least 30 meters. "But I was successful in pushing it into a narrow valley and caught hold of my son", said Sulekha who was present here on Wednesday evening to collect her silver medal in the Physical Bravery category of the 14th Godfrey Phillips Bravery Awards.

The Himachal Pradesh Governor, Vishnu Sadashiv Kokje, gave the awards to six other persons in an impressive function here. The awards were conferred in two categories of Physical Bravery and Social Acts of Courage.

Mr. Rajinder Kumar Sen, head Cashier of Central Bank of India of Khadrala Branch in Rohru, got the gold medal for physical bravery. He had single-handedly faced three weapon-brandishing goons and foiled their robbery attempt. In the scuffle he was seriously injured and one of his ears got chopped off. Rudesh Chand of Hamirpur was awarded bronze medal for showing exemplary courage by saving two drowning women in the flooded Beas River in July 2004. Ravi Kumar and Jitendra Kumar were also given bronze medals for saving two tourists, from Ludhiana, from drowning in Ravi river in Chamba.

Mr. Sanjeev Atri, a school teacher from Sirmaur, was given a silver medal in the social act of courage category for his commendable role in checking drug abuse. He has been fighting big Pan Masala companies since 1997.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Their awards came from jaws of death

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu