Boatman hailed for rescuing girl from Ganges, UP to fete him

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 17

 Little would have Ghazipur boatman Gullu Chaudhary thought that his instinctive act of saving a newborn girl floating in a box along the Ganges would catapult him into a social media sensation overnight.

For him, it was a routine day like any other on the banks of Dadrighat in Ghazipur when he spotted a decorated trunk in the river, a baby’s cries emanating from inside.

Ghazipur district authorities say there were many bystanders along the banks who also heard the infant’s whimpers. But it was Gullu Mallah who jumped into the Ganges and brought the child to safety.

Geeta Shrivastava, convenor of the district child welfare committee, on Thursday said the child had now been placed for care at the sick newborn care unit in the Ghazipur district hospital and would now be under the protection of the state.

Gullu Choudhary, meanwhile, said he would have liked to adopt the girl.

“I have a daughter and two sons. I could have taken care of the child but the district child welfare officers have taken her to the hospital,” said the boatman, who earned social media praise all day today apart from an assurance of government support from the Uttar Pradesh government.

UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath hailed Gullu for his act and said, “Gullu Mallah has set a remarkable example of humanity by saving a child floating in a trunk in the Ganges. As a gesture of gratitude to the boatman, Uttar Pradesh government will make him a beneficiary in all its government run schemes and programmes. The state government also takes full responsibility for the care of the newborn.”

Happy to have done his bit, Gullu says the child was found inside a trunk decorated with images of Hindu Gods. She was wrapped in a cloth and slips in the trunk bore her name as “Ganga”, her date of birth as “May 25, 2021” and also bore her horoscope.

In April, this year, Mayur Shelke, a pointsman in the Mumbai division of Central Railways, had risked his life to save a child who had fallen on the tracks with a high speed train in sight.