Agra: 15-year-old Nazia from Agra was recently awarded the Rani Laxmibai bravery award by the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav, for saving a 6-year-old Hindu girl from kidnappers in August last year. It was the afternoon on August 7, when Nazia, a student of Saghir Fatima Mohammadia Girls Inter College, was returning home when she heard cries for help from a young girl, who was being forcibly pulled on a motorcycle by two youths. Unmindful of her own safety, Nazia rushed to the girl’s help and held her hand and managed to pull her away from the kidnappers, who then fled the spot. It was only after she had rescued the girl, Dimpy, that Nazia learnt that she was her junior from school. Today, Dimpy’s parents treat Nazia as their own daughter and are indebted to her for saving their child from the clutches of the kidnappers. Nazia says that her action was spontaneous and she did not hesitate even for a second to think about her own safety. Recalling the moment, Nazia said, “It was like a tug of war for 2 minutes. While they tried pulling her on the motorcycle, I kept pulling her back”, she said adding that the suspects finally gave up and fled. Nazia said since the incident had happened near Sadarbhatti area, which is just 100 meters away from their school, she immediately rushed there with Dimpy and informed the Principal. ” When contacted, Dimpy said she was very happy that “didi” had been awarded for her bravery. “Agar didi uss din na hoti to woh log mujhe le jaate (‘They would have taken me away that day if ‘didi’ hadn’t been there’)”, she said.
The award consists of a cheque of Rs one lakh. Haji Jamiluddin Qureshi, Manager of Saghir Fatima Mohammadia Girls Inter College, said, “there is no religious discrimination in our school. In our school, we have Muslim girls learning Sanskrit and Hindus girls taking lessons in Urdu”.
(Extracted from http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
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