Brave Bihar girl's national award stolen

Bihar's young teenage icon Farzana Begum, who was given the National Bravery Award for saving five people from drowning, alleges her medal has been stolen from her house.

Bihar's young teenage icon Farzana Begum, who was given the National Bravery Award for saving five people from drowning, alleges her medal has been stolen from her house.

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Farzana, 18, said: "The medal given to me for my bravery has been stolen. I am shocked... The medal was kept in an iron box inside a wooden bed. It was stolen Thursday night during reconstruction of my thatched house. My certificates have not been stolen."

She has filed a police complaint.

She was given the award for saving a woman, a man and three children from drowning in the 2007 floods in Bihar.

Farzana, a resident of Bisaharia village in Purnea district, belongs to a poor family and her father, Jamil Ahmad, is a landless labourer.

She recalled that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had told her that she was a brave girl who risked her life to save five people from drowning and described her as "an icon for Bihar's youth".

She was given the award on Republic Day in 2008 and presented with a Rs.45,000 cheque by the state government.

In appreciation of Farzana's brave act, the state government had ordered that she be allowed to study for free. She is currently enrolled in the residential Kasturba Gandhi School at Baisi in Purnea.