Image one: The old man stands next to the cycle, pleading to the khakhi-clad cop with folded hands as the latter kicks his belongings.
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Image two: The cop is about to knock down the man’s type writer as he helplessly makes one last effort to save it.
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Image three: The remains of what-used-to-be a typewriter now lies on the road as the bespectacled man hovers around it, perhaps gauging what would he do next.
Image four: The khaki-clad cop looks right into the camera, hardly any emotion reflecting on his face.
The photographs were so powerful that words only do as much as to put them in perspective.
The old man is 65-year-old Kishan Kumar, a Lucknow-based Hindi typist who has been working outside the General Post Office (GPO) for the last 35 years.
Ashutosh Tripathi, a photographer from Lucknow, on Saturday shared Kumar’s photographs on Facebook with a post narrating the episode. In less than 24 hours, the post has been shared over 29,000 times. Many people demanded the UP government to act, while others were willing to help the man.
The Uttar Pradesh government sprung into action and suspended the police officer as well as gifted Kumar a new type writer.
Sub-inspector Pradeep Kumar had reportedly asked the senior citizen to vacate the spot. According to Tripathi, Kishan Kumar used to work for 10 hours on the very spot on his old typewriter, and earned a meager Rs 50 each day.
What unfolded next has been captured in the photographs, though it is not clear who clicked them. Thousands wrote condemning the officer’s act and several came forward to help him.
Kumar’s is yet another successful story which proves the power of social media and the difference it can make.
All photographs source: Ashutosh Tripathi/Facebook
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