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 the highest civilian hon ...

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 Allahabad/ 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 Pr ...

block of District

Prayagraj Allahabad (), List of renamed Indian cities and states, officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut ...

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

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four ...

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, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

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

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is a global holiday list of minor secular observances#March, celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women's rights, women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, ...

in 2018 Jain was given the

at the Presidential Palace ( Rastrapati Bhavan) in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the NCT Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati B ...

by the

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Ram Nath Kovind Ram Nath Kovind (; born 1 October 1945) is an Indian politician who served as the 14th President of India from 2017 to 2022. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is the second person after K. R. Narayanan, from the Dalit community ...

. The ceremony was attended by the Minister for Women & Child Development,

Maneka Sanjay Gandhi Maneka Sanjay Gandhi (also spelled Menaka; ''née'' Anand) (born 26 August 1956) is an Indian politician, animal rights activist, and environmentalist. She is a member of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament and a member of ...

and the Prime Minister of India,

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the List of Prime Ministers of India, 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the List of chief ministers of Gujarat, Chief Minist ...

. 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 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