Identified as 31-year-old Netresh Sharma, the constable had been put on patrol duty on Saturday. When the clashes broke out he rescued four people including the child from a burning house
The viral picture of Netresh Sharma running with the baby in his arms. Twitter/SukirtiMadhav
The trope of the brave hero saving a baby from the burning building is commonly used in movies across the world. But on Saturday, India witnessed its own real-life hero who saved a baby amid violence and fire in Rajasthan.
Shamli SSP Sukirti Madhav Mishra on Monday posted a photo on Twitter of a constable running with a kid in his arms as houses around him burned. The constable in the picture has been identified as 31-year-old Netresh Sharma, who took the baby from two women who were trapped amid the communal clashes in Karauli and ran through fire to save the child.
Karauli witnessed communal clashes on Saturday after stones were pelted at a motorcycle rally passing through a Muslim-dominated area on Nav Samvatsar, the first day of the new year under the Hindu calendar. So far 46 people have been arrested in the incident.
Sharing his experience with Dainik Bhaskar, Sharma said, he ran through the flames and entered the house because duty is of utmost importance.
He said he was providing protection to the procession by leading the way on a motorcycle patrol. Suddenly, when the stone pelting began, he rushed back and found two people sitting on the road. They had been injured and they requested him to take them to hospital which he did.
The policeman further said that shops were set on fire and cops were busy dousing the flames and rescuing people.
“I suddenly saw a house in the middle of two shops that were burning with two-three women trapped inside. One of them had a child in her arms. As soon as I saw that scene, I rushed into the house,” Sharma said, according to an NDTV report.
“The flames were closing in on the door. The women begged me to help and I told them to give me the child who was already wrapped in a shawl. I took the child in my arms and I told the mother and the other women in the house to run out behind me,” he added.
Sharma rushed through the flames holding the child in his arms and close to the chest. “The women followed me and then I handed the child back to them,” he further said.
Mishra’s post has garnered over 4,000 retweets and over 31,000 likes and counting. Netizens have showered the officer with praises, including the Rajasthan police who tweeted “Salute to the spirit of constable Netresh Sharma”.
Manjinder Singh Sirsa shared his respect for the officer on Twitter:
National General Secretary, ABVP, Nidhi Tripathi tweeted if courage has a face:
BJP National secretary Y Satya Kumar called him ‘real life hero’:
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