“The experience of deprivation is the same for everyone,” these are the words from a touching Facebook note written by Latheef Attappadi, a shopkeeper in Palakkad’s Sholayur, about a Class 3 boy against whom his neighbours filed a police complaint for taking their new bicycle.
The Facebook post, which has gone viral with over 11,000 people sharing it in the past two days, describes how police officials of Sholayur station, who were touched by the desperation of the child, decided to buy him a new bicycle.
"His childish desire to ride a bicycle had made the child take his neighbour’s brand new bicycle. The issue, however, soon escalated into a complaint of theft with the neighbour going to the police, accusing the boy of theft," writes Latheef.
The boy who belongs to an impoverished family had taken the cycle to his house. When the owners went to the police, and the police started searching for the cycle, they were told that the boy had parked it in his house. The boy told the police that he wanted to just take a ride on it.
“Though police settled the issue amicably, Vinod Krishna, the Station House Officer of the Sholayur police station was deeply moved by the incident, and decided to buy him a new bicycle. For that, he came to my shop,” Latheef recalls.
Latheef further adds how he learnt that the police officer too had humble beginnings, which is why he was able to empathise with the boy.
“After talking with him, I realised his experience and goodwill. He shared the story of how he did not have a cycle while he was a student. I also recalled my experience of having to rent out a bicycle since I couldn’t own one. The experience of deprivation is the same everywhere,” Latheef notes emotionally.
After being moved by the incident, Latheef urged the police officer to not pay for the bicycle.
“Though there may be complaints against police officers, we can always take pride that such officers with a good heart are there for our protection. I salute the CI of Sholayur police station Vinod Krishna and his colleagues, who were instrumental in making the child happy,” Latheef says, ending the note.
The note written on Saturday has so far garnered over 38,000 likes and 10,000 comments with many people wishing him and the police officer for their goodwill.
Last year, a Class 6 student in Ernakulam district was gifted tree saplings by police officers, after he filed a complaint over his missing trees. This too had similarly gone viral.
(This story was first published in The News Minute and has been republished with permission.)
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