Bem�s exemplary courage saved a child

[Pradip Kumar Datta]

        Teenager’s courage rewarded 
                     Bem Sinha: Braveheart   June 23: Silchar A 16-year-old Cachar schoolgirl who saved a two-and-a-half-year-old child from drowning in 2004 has finally got her due — the Union home ministry-instituted Jivan Jyoti Bravery Award for 2005.
  Bem Sinha, a resident of the Bishnupriya Manipuri-dominated Masughat village under Borkhola block, is the only one from Assam to be included in the roll of honour. She will be felicitated with a cash reward and a certificate along with 43 others at a function in New Delhi soon.
  Bem’s exemplary courage came to the fore during the devastating floods in Cachar district two years ago. Her mother Rama said Bem, who was 14 at the time, saw a child slip into a flooded low-lying field near her home and dived straight in without a second thought to save him.
  “I saw my daughter grab the child (Arun), but the pressure of the gurgling waters took them to the middle of the waterbody and threatened to drown both. Bem saw a tree br-anch protruding out of the wa-ter and swam some distance to hold it. Her screams attracted the neighbours, who helped Arun and my daughter out of the water,” Rama recalled.
  Bem, now a student of Class X at Masughat Higher Secondary School, became a role model in her village and the adjoining areas but it wasn’t until Union minister Sontosh Mohan Dev heard about her deed that official recognition came. 
  Dev, who is the MP from Silchar, wrote to the Uni-on home ministry, which sent a team of officials to Assam to verify the story. Confirmation of the award came soon after. 

 				
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