In an act of selflessness, an auto-driver in Delhi sacrificed his own life to save the lives of a woman who, carrying her child, had jumped off the bridge in the Meethanpur canal on Saturday, 22 December.
The auto-driver, Pawan Shah, was on his way home after dropping off a customer early morning, when he saw the woman jump into the water along with her child. Without hesitating, Shah jumped into the water after them and managed to grab hold of the child, and keep the heads of both the woman and the child above the water, The Times of India reported.
Shah started shouting for help and drew the attention of three men – Rajveer, Jamil and Sanjeev – who rushed to the site and saw the trio. The three men then formed a human chain and managed to bring both the woman and her child back to the shore.
However, when they tried to reach, a strong current came and took Shah away, the TOI report added.
Later, talking to the police, the three men said that when they saw Shah being carried away by the current, they made a PCR call, after which police teams and underwater divers from Jaitpur were employed to carry out a proper search for the auto-driver. However, Shah couldn’t be found, the report stated.
Shah is now presumed dead, police officials told TOI.
The woman and her child, who Shah had rescued, were taken to a hospital and were declared to be stable. The woman later told the newspaper that she had tried to kill herself and her child after an argument with her husband.
Shah’s heroic act has not gone unnoticed. DCP South-East Chinmoy Biswal told The Times of India that the police would be recommending his name for the ‘Jivan Raksha’ bravery awards.
(With inputs from The Times of India.)
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