Bravery is not the absence of fear but the ability to move forward in spite of fear - Anonymous
At a time when reports of people turning a blind eye to lecherous and dastardly acts of eve-teasing and rape are flooding the country, a Kolkata driver of an app-based cab service reminded us of our role as responsible citizens.
Binod Nayak, the driver of an app-based cab, was given the bravery award by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday for his valiance in saving a woman when she was being chased by inebriated men.
Loud cheers filled the open-air theatre Uttirnya, where the felicitation programme of police was organised, when Joint Commissioner of Police (headquarters) Supratim Sarkar announced the name of Nayak after reading out the incident in which he had courageously saved a woman in the wee hours at Wellington on Saturday.
At around 4.30 am on Saturday, Nayak was resting in his cab at Wellington after dropping off a passenger. Suddenly, he heard the loud cries of a woman asking for help. He found three inebriated youth forcing the woman into a car. The woman, who is originally a resident of Murshidabad, was not in a position to free herself despite crying for help.
Somehow, she managed to free herself and started running down the road. Nayak started following them on Lenin Sarani. Later, three more youth joined the gang and started chasing the woman on a motorbike. Realising that it would not be possible for him to face six youth alone, he started searching for policemen and found a police jeep on Park Street. He approached the policemen and with their help finally found the girl in a lane near Lenin Sarani where the girl was hiding.
The youth had fled realising that they might get caught. Nayak took the woman to New Market police station in his cab. It was learnt that the woman came to visit the city with some of her friends. She decided to stay in a hotel after an altercation with her friends and the incident took place when she had come out of the hotel.
At a time when there are numerous reports of app-cab drivers misbehaving with passengers or harassing them, Nayak has left a different mark on the face of society as we know it.