Rekha Mishra (born c. 1986) is an Indian police officer from Railway Protection Force(RPF) who was recognised for finding hundreds of lost children. She was awarded the

Nari Shakti Puraskar The Nari Shakti Puraskar () is an annual award given by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of the Government of India to individual women or to institutions that work towards the cause of women empowerment. It is presented by the presi ...

in 2018.

Life

Mishra was born in about 1986. Her military family comes from Kanjia village of

Kaurihar Kaudihar is a block of Soraon tehsil in Prayagraj district. Kaurihar is located on the Lucknow-Prayagraj National Highway, at a distance of 22 km from the District headquarter. till the year 2019 it was the biggest block of Uttar Pradesh ha ...

block of District

Prayagraj Prayagraj (, ; ISO 15919, ISO: ), formerly and colloquially known as Allahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi, Varanasi (Benar ...

Allabahad in Uttar Pradesh. Her father Surendra Narayan Mishra is retired from

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

and her two brothers are also serving in

. Her Grandfather Surya Narayan Mishra was a freedom fighter. She joined the Railway Protection Force(RPF) in 2014 and she was assigned to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Railway Terminus. She was a sub-inspector of the police and she and her colleagues became skilled at spotting children who found themselves at the end of the railway line and unsure of their next step. By 2018 she had recognized hundreds children who had run away to Mumbai. They had naively come to the big city to try and meet

Bollywood film Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Hollywood". The industry, producing films in th ...

stars or to meet people they had found on Facebook. On

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March, commemorating women's fight for equality and liberation along with the women's rights movement. International Women's Day gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive righ ...

in 2018 Jain was given the

at the Presidential Palace ( Rastrapati Bhavan) in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

by the

President of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...

Ram Nath Kovind Ram Nath Kovind ( ; born 1 October 1945) is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the president of India from 2017 to 2022. He is the first person from Uttar Pradesh to serve as the president. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Pa ...

. The ceremony was attended by the Minister for Women & Child Development, Maneka Sanjay Gandhi and the Prime Minister of India,

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

. About thirty people were recognised that day, receiving the award and a prize of 100,000 rand. After Mishta was awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar and 100,000 Rand donated the money to the NGO Childline who rescue and care for lost and troubled children. She argued that the charity needed the money more than she did. Her work was also used as an exemplar in school text books in

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

for year 10 students. The book illustrates what can happen to children who run away.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mishra, Rekha 1986 births Living people Indian police officers Police officers from Mumbai Indian women police officers Nari Shakti Puraskar winners