Eight Girls amongh 21 Children Selected for National Bravery Award

A total of 21 children will be receiving the National Bravery awards on the January 26, reported CNN-IBN.

The list of 21 winners for the awards announced by the Indian Council for Child Welfare on Monday consists of eight girls who acted beyond their years to save precious lives, said report.

With Jammu’s Ruksana Kosser having gunned down a terrorist to save her family and earned herself not just the reputation of a braveheart but also a place in Jammu and Kashmir Police, the year 2009 seems to be a year of Indian femme fatales.

The youngest recipient of the award is six-year-old Thoi Thoi Khumnathen from Manipur who dived into a pond to save a drowning four-year-old, said report.

Thoi Thoi wants to become a doctor but she’ll need more than this award to help her fulfill this dream, said report.

“She wants to become a doctor. I hope the government will help us with her education,” Thoi Thoi’s father Khumanthem Tomban was quoted as saying.

Prity Devi, 10, disposed used her bare hands to dispose a grenade that was hurled at her mother’s shop in Imphal, said report.

Report said that she hopes to fight terror by joining the police force but a splinter from the explosion still lodged in her leg could curb her bold steps.

“We are not very rich. The award money will not be enough for the surgery. We wrote to the government for help but got no response,” claims Prity’s father.

Afsana Khatun, Sunita Mahato and Rekha Kalindi escaped becoming child brides by approaching the labour commissioner against their parents, after they were forced to drop out of school to get married, report said.

Report said that the 11-year olds from Purulia in West Bengal have since then convinced 35 families in the village to delay their minor daughters’ marriages.

“We see to it that no girls under 18 and boys under 21 get married. If the parents do not listen, we go to the thana,” Afsana Khatun was quoted as saying.