For 52 year old Balraj Choudhary and his wife Ganga Devi who were trapped in a fire in four-storey building in Central Delhi’s Paharganj area on Wednesday, three constables from Delhi Police displayed extraordinary courage and saved the couple. For the couple and people living in and around four storey building, these three cops are no less than `hero’. All the three men in khaki have restored the faith of public in Delhi police which says, Delhi police is for the people to help them. Impressed by their conduct and swift action, Delhi Police has recommended their names to the Home Ministry for `Jeevan Rakshak Padak’ for displaying “extraordinary courage”. They are Head Constable Manoj Kumar, Constable Sandeep and Constable Amit.
Head Constable Manoj Kumar and Constable Sandeep were on duty at a mosque near Chuna Mandi when they saw thick black smoke engulfing a nearby building and rushed to the spot. They found a woman hanging from a grill of the building’s balcony on the second floor.This woman was screaming for help. Without wasting any time, Manoj decided to get into the affected area through an adjacent building.Hence, Sandeep and Manoj made a human chain. They placed an aluminium ladder. While Manoj stood on the third floor of the building, Sandeep stood on the ledge and together they tried to pull the woman up. While they were busy trying to pull up the woman, another constable Amit arrived on the spot and together they managed to rescue the woman. Manoj later stated that if they had had been late by two minutes, the woman would have fallen.
Manoj recalled that he had rescued an 11 year old mentally challenged girl from a house in fire in the same area last year. Her mother had locked her inside the house and went out. The house caught fire due to short-circuit. He stated that he was little scared initially but later broke the main door to rescue the child.
Sandeep stated that this woman was in a terrible situation and people were just watching and trying to capture the incident. The woman was holding on to the grill of the balcony of the second floor and was crying for help. However, he managed to get onto the ledge and his colleagues Manoj and Amit held his hands tight. All the three cops also rescued the husband in a similar manner later. There was another man who was trapped by the fire, had jumped from the floor and had injured himself in the act. He was taken to a hospital for treatment.
