Apart from their law enforcement duties, police officials often help people in the most wholesome of ways; making sure the elderly aren’t alone on their birthdays and helping out young children who seek their help. Recently, Pavan Nash, a Class 6 student from Ernakulam, Kerala, woke up to find that the gooseberry tree he’d been growing for the past 2 years was cut off by unidentified people. His elder sister Pavithra and his school teacher Harikumar encouraged him to contact Chiri (smile).
Chiri is a helpline initiated by the cops to address the mental health issues of children during the pandemic. Manorama quoted a heartbroken Pavan saying, “Someone took away my gooseberry sapling. Please capture the culprit who did this.”
Pavithra was quoted adding, “I am a cadet of the Student Police Cadets (SPC) for the past two years and the experience gave me the courage to take the matter up seriously though it may sound a small issue.”
Subsequently, much to his delight cops gifted him saplings of gooseberry, guava, and sitafal as well as a CCTV surveillance system to keep an eye on them in the future.
A Kerala boy comes back home to find his gooseberry tree missing. He informs authorities. What happens next will make you smile. https://t.co/KV4tmnJn2a
— Dhanya Rajendran (@dhanyarajendran) August 28, 2020
The New Indian Express quoted the Chiri project state nodal officer, Inspector General P Vijayan saying,
“Children are calling for assistance and to raise complaints on various issues ranging from a fight between parents to lack of playground. Over 80 psychologists and psychiatrists have voluntarily extended support to offer counselling. We have formed district-level units comprising volunteers to attend to the requirements of children. We are doing our best to offer support to children.”
Kudos to the officers for this heartening gesture.