Auto driver felicitated by Jaipur police after 9 months

JAIPUR: The Jaipur police took nine months to felicitate an auto rickshaw driver for his vigilance that saved a 16-year-old girl from Siliguri (West Bengal) from getting any troubles when she had come to Jaipur to meet a Facebook friend.
40-year-old Ramkesh Yadav at railway station got a confused 16-year-old boarding his auto rickshaw in September, 2017. While he asked her about the designation, the girl could only reply that she was in town to meet a Facebook friend who is a guy from Mohali (Chandigarh).Sensing the danger, Ramkesh took the girl first to his home, got the number of her parents from her, informed them and later handed her over to Mahilla Thana police station Gandhi Nagar. “He took the girl at his home where his wife interacted with the girl and convinced the girl that she can’t leave her home like this for a stranger. Thereafter, the auto rickshaw driver took the girl to Mahilla Thana Gandhi Nagar and she was handed over to the crisis centre. Finally, the girl’s parents arrived and she safely returned home,” said a senior police officer on Monday.
While handing over the felicitation letter, commissioner of police Sanjay Agarwal said, “One should learn a lesson from what he had done. While the girl boarded into his rickshaw he got aware that she had come to the pink city to meet a Facebook friend who was a young man from Mohali Chandigarh, he ensured her safety,” Agarwal said while talking to TOI.
But, why it took Jaipur police so long to decide on his fate, when asked, Vikas Pathak, DCP (crime) and DCP (South) said, “We were initially planning to felicitate him on Republic day this year, but he was not available. Similarly, we had even attempted to give him felicitation letter through Director General of police, OP Galhotra, but even then he was not available. Finally, we decided to felicitate him without delaying it further. We are now even sending his name for Nagrik Samman.”
Elated with the response of police, Vijay Goyal, a child right activist, said, “Police verified the incident properly and now felicitated him. This felicitation would encourage auto rickshaw, cab drivers and others to help other girls and women like this whenever they are in any such problem.”