This year, twenty children -- 12 girls and 8 boys -- were selected for the National Bravery Awards, for which more than a hundred applications were received from around the country.
Saumik Mishra, 13, won the Sanjay Chopra Award. The Sanjay and Geeta Chopra awards for bravery are named after the brother and sister who were killed by kidnappers Ranga and Billa in New Delhi in 1978.
A resident of Lucknow, Saumik was going to the dentist with his mother when he spotted two thieves.
"On seeing them my mother took out her gold chain and put it in her purse. But they kept following us," remembers Saumik.
"I don't know what inspired me to leap out and catch hold of one of the thieves by his neck. I did not let go even when he hit me with the butt of a desi katta (knife). My mother gathered courage and shouted. I did not let them go and both were caught."
Saumik never thought he would get an award for his act of bravery. But now that he has got one he is delighted.
"It is nice to meet the other brave children. I will keep in touch with these friends through phone or e-mail. After all, days like this do not come every day."
Image: Saumik Mishra with his parents.
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