On Thursday evening, 65-year-old Jagadishwar Goud a farmer was returning from Majidpur in Hyderabad, where he works, to Gunthapally.
To save time, he decided to take a shortcut, through an empty road in the village.
That is when he saw two men dragging a girl towards their car. She was screaming, but they weren’t willing to let her go.
“It was around 5 in the evening and I saw a few students returning home from the village government school. That area is usually empty and nobody wanders around there. Suddenly, I saw two men, one of them was young, while the other one was at his mid thirties. They seemed inebriated and were dragging a girl towards their car. The girl was screaming, and fell down after fighting back, but they picked her and left,” he said.
However, Jagadishwar who was riding a bike, decided to follow the car.
The car stopped soon and Jagadishwar parked his bike right in front the car. He hurriedly pulled out the girl from the car. After that, he forced the men to come out of the car.
“They were drunk, and started pleading to me, asking me to let them go. But I took them to the Majidpur village sarpanj and he informed the police,” Jagadishwar told TNM.
The two men, Ramesh (26) and Srikant (37) were arrested and booked under section 354 of IPC for assault and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The Hayathnagar police told TNM that the girl had been returning from school when the men tried to kidnap her.
“Jagadishwar saved a 14-year-old girl from getting kidnapped and sexually assaulted. We need more people like him in the society,” said Narender Goud, inspector at the Hayathnagar Police Station.
Jagadishwar stays with his wife near Ramoji film city.
“I always wonder whether anyone will help my daughters or granddaughters if something happens to them, I believe that, if you help people, God will find a way for you when you need help. She was a small girl, who knows what monstrosities the men had in mind for her,” he said.
For his bravery, Jagadishwar was awarded Rs.5000 by the Police.
And he hopes that his act will embolden others to do the same.