Police personnel in the country are often at the receiving end of public ire, over allegations of corruption or over the perceived failure to stop crimes from happening.
But, as a few young police recruits at Uttar Pradesh’s Dr BR Ambedkar Police Academy have shown, men and women who sign up to wear the khakhi also often perform acts of generosity and kindness that win over the hearts of the citizens they serve.
In a tweet posted by Rahul Srivastav, Public Relations Officer to the Uttar Pradesh DGP, the young recruits are seen taking pictures with a happy hawker, whose stolen bicycle was just replaced with a brand new one.
“Salute- A hawker's bicycle got stolen.Recruit constable's at Muradabad Police academy gifted him one & took selfies,” reads the tweet.
Salute-A hawker's bicycle got stolen.Recruit constable's at Muradabad #Police academy gifted him one & took selfies pic.twitter.com/MxpQ3AgDZk
— RAHUL SRIVASTAV (@upcoprahul) March 31, 2017
The gesture won hearts on Twitter and Srivastav’s tweet, posted originally on March 31, currently has 200 retweets and over 700 likes.
Many people have called the young recruits people with “golden hearts”, and have honoured their “compassion” and “selfless endeavour”.
Check out some of the reactions:
@upcoprahul @Uppolice @IPS_Association @rama_rajeswari @sidharthnsingh @ptshrikant @sunetrac @DCP_DelhiPolice @richaanirudh @TelanganaDGP @mukteshchander @BBCVikas Well Done,Great to see new recruits with golden heart, soon Indian society will be gifted by these great cops on ground to serve them proud.
— Tarun Sharma (@tarun10sharma) March 31, 2017
@upcoprahul @Uppolice @IPS_Association @rama_rajeswari @sidharthnsingh @ptshrikant @sunetrac @DCP_DelhiPolice @richaanirudh @TelanganaDGP @mukteshchander @BBCVikas Compassion at its best..salute to the recruit and his selfless endeavour
— ANURAG (@anuraganthro1) March 31, 2017
@upcoprahul @IPS_Association Heart warming !!
— laxman singh (@Laxmantweetsss) April 1, 2017
@upcoprahul @Uppolice @IPS_Association @rama_rajeswari @sidharthnsingh @ptshrikant @sunetrac @DCP_DelhiPolice @richaanirudh @TelanganaDGP @mukteshchander @BBCVikas Oh!!!What a gesture,what a beginning of new career for recruit constable,hope a new breed.they deserve our(public) salute.jai hind
— yogeshrathore (@yogiagra) March 31, 2017
A similar incident had happened in Pune in October last year when an ATM security guard’s bicycle was stolen. A resident of the area, Tanvi, found the guard frantically searching for his bicycle, almost on the verge of tears, and posted about his plight on social media.
Not only did Tanvi receive up to 300 responses in her Facebook inbox, but a café near her locality made the heartwarming gesture of contributing money to buy the elderly man a new bicycle.
Tanvi posted the video of the elated man on his brand new ride. As expected, it won the internet’s heart.