Often the image of the police among the people is negative. But a woman policeman from Mumbai has presented a new example of humanity to the people. Actually, this story is of Rehana Sheikh.
Rehana Shaikh, originally from Satara, Maharashtra, is posted as a constable in the Mumbai Crime Branch (Interpol). Rehana has not only financed the education of 50 needy children, but has also helped in providing plasma, beds and ambulances to over 50 people during the Corona pandemic. This is the reason why people today call her as ‘Mother Teresa’.
how did the series start?
Rehana Sheikh The Better India Told to, “May 13 is my daughter’s birthday. Once on his birthday, we were planning to celebrate. Meanwhile, the corona report of a constable living nearby came positive and then we could not celebrate the birthday. Just then, a friend working in the office of the Additional Commissioner of Police, Mumbai, Ravindra Patil, told me about some needy children in Raigad and showed me some pictures.”
Seeing those pictures, Rehana asked her friend about celebrating her daughter’s birthday with those children, after which her partner said – yes, why not! But, due to some urgent work, he could not go there. Rehana says, “After not going to celebrate my daughter’s birthday with the kids, I transferred the money to my friend’s account and asked you to take food for the kids and send me pictures in the evening.”
She further adds, “The friend sent me some such pictures, which I was surprised to see. Then I called my friend and asked what kind of pictures have you sent? Somebody’s clothes are torn, some have no slippers on their feet. To this he said that this is the reality. Hearing this brought tears to my eyes.”
Do not get your children new clothes on Eid
After this Rehana decided to do something for these needy children and after finding out the phone number of the school principal, spoke to them. She says, “I told him that I will send you help now. But he said that you yourself come and meet the children. I can’t take money from you. You can do whatever you want to help with your own happiness.”
Meanwhile Eid arrived and Rehana told both her children, “We take new clothes every year on the occasion of Eid, but this time we will not. On this, both the children were disappointed and asked why? Then I explained to them that we will help those children with this money. Rehana reached Gyanayi Vidyalaya located in Dhamani, Raigad to meet those children. He also distributed some clothes and food items among the children and every month decided to spend some part of his earnings on the education of those poor children.
Rehana says, “It is a private school with 243 children. This school is being run by a teacher named Thakur sir since last 10 years. He runs his own bhajan-kirtan troupe, from which he covers school expenses. This school is about 8 km away from my home. After school opens, I come here every week on holidays and teach Marathi and Hindi. At present, I am taking care of the education expenses of 50 children.
Many lives were saved during the second wave of Corona
Rehana emerged as a messiah for many during the second wave of the Corona pandemic. He provided 54 people from plasma to oxygen and beds. These included 32 Mumbai Police and their family members. Apart from this, he also provided ambulance facility to many people.
She says, “The mother of a constable friend had got corona and needed a taxim injection. But he was not getting the injection. After which he told me. I inquired at a BMC hospital, they gave the customer care number and asked to speak. After which I came to know when and where I will get the injection. I told this to my friend and he got the injection after standing in line since 3 am. In this way the life of the friend’s mother was saved.”
This news reached the control room (Mumbai Police Control Room) that Rehana can make some arrangements to help the people. After this, calls from policemen from all over Maharashtra started coming to Rehana in the hope of help.
Rehana has solution to every problem
Rehana believes that helping people is her priority. As long as she does not help any needy according to her ability, she does not get peace. In these tasks, she gets the full help of her husband Nasir Sheikh. Recalling an incident, Rehana says, “One day early in the morning, I got a call from a friend that someone needs A positive plasma, which is not available anywhere. I tried a lot, but nothing worked out. Seeing me upset, my husband asked what was the matter? When I told him the whole thing, he immediately agreed and asked to go to the hospital together.”
Then, Nasir tells him that his blood group is also A positive. Rehana says that she never thought that her husband would come forward to save someone’s life like this. Ramesh Pawar, who hails from Kalyan and is a government school teacher, is also among those who have received his help.
herself also came under the grip of corona
Ramesh, 51, says, “I was diagnosed with corona in March this year and I was on oxygen for 18 days. I needed plasma so that I could recover quickly. But nothing was happening. Then one of my police friends came to know about Rehana ji. The family members talked to him and after some time he said that you will get the plasma tomorrow. I don’t know how he did it, but I have no words to help him.”
While helping people, Rehana herself also came under the grip of Corona. Due to this he had to be hospitalized for 11 days. Rehana says that after being hit by Corona, she got a reward of Rs 10,000 from the government.
She further says, “At that time there was a heavy storm in Raigad. Due to which the school suffered a lot. The money that I had received as a reward from the government, was given to the school so that the children do not face any problem in studies.
lessons learned from father
Rehana’s father was SI in Maharashtra Police. He always taught Rehana to help people.
Regarding this, Rehana says, “My father always taught me to support people in their grief. When I was young, her posting was in Satara. I used to watch them parade and handle the case. He was so busy with work that even after being 100 meters away from home, he could not go to eat. This also inspired me to become a policeman.”
In this way, Rehana, after passing her 12th from Sushila Devi Vidyalaya in Satara, joined Ambedkar College in Mumbai in 1998. By then his father’s posting had also been done in Mumbai.
Then, in the year 2000, Rehana got the job of a constable in Mumbai Police and in 2013 she also passed the SI exam. However, this recruitment process is still stuck in balance and as soon as the recruitment process starts again, she will become an SI.
a great athlete
Let us tell you that Rehana is also a brilliant player and she led the police force in the Masters Game-2017 held in Sri Lanka and won the Gold Medal in Javelin Throw and Running.
At the same time, he was also awarded the ‘Police Medal’ at the hands of Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale for enhancing the dignity of the police by helping people during the Corona epidemic.
Rehana says that there is a very negative image among the people about the police that they take bribe by standing on the road. But, the reality is not this. During the Corona epidemic, when people were afraid to leave their homes, the police stood on the streets to help people and saved millions of lives.
She tells that the police even put her family in danger to perform their duties. So the society has to change its perception towards the police.
Popularity is not the aim
Rehana believes that she has become only a means to help people, while the real heroes – Vishwas Ghate, Appa Ghopade, Rusi Tabde, Lokesh and Akshay are friends from her police department. His motive was never to be popular, but to help people.
She appeals to the people that today people help each other. If a capable family can afford the education of a needy child, there will be no illiterate person in India.
She says, “During the corona epidemic, we have seen that people are tempted to eat grains. That’s why people should come forward to help according to their ability.
Apart from this, she also appeals to promote organ donation. She says, “If you donate organs, your existence will continue even after you leave the world. I also donated my eyes sometime back, so that after I pass away, someone can see the world because of me.”
Editing – G N Jha
Also read – A Kashmiri Pandit family, who even after losing everything, became the support of 360 voiceless
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