Satyadev Sharma – The “Bollywood” Hero From Real Life

It was a spine-chilling scene that any “action hero” from Bollywood would love to enact on screen (and certainly not in real life).

It is a scene that witnessed an unarmed police officer challenging a pistol toting criminal, and grabbing and overpowering the latter while braving bullets.

The incident took place in the night of 12th September, in Delhi’s satellite town of Noida. Sub-inspector (SI) Satyadev Sharma, the in-charge of Sector 62 “chowki” of the town, was in the duty of checking vehicles at Nawada village. It was at that time that he saw three men approaching on a bike. The moment he tried to stop them, the two pillion riders started firing at him.

However, the gutsy police officer with a commando training smartly ducked the bullets, and even caught hold of one of those guys by his clothes, and finally managed to pull him down. He was soon joined by a police party – that arrived just in time – and passersby, and the person got caught. However, the other two persons in the bike managed to flee.

The scoundrel who was caught was later identified as Pradeep Negi, a dreadful criminal who was wanted by police in 11 cases. He is actually a sharpshooter in the infamous Jadeja gang. He had in fact come to Noida with the “mission” of snatching vehicles.

It is really heartening to know that our police force has cops like Mr. Satyadev. As a resident of Noida, I am both proud and relieved that there is at least one officer like Mr. Satyadev in the police force that is responsible for the protection of the Noida residents.

Oh, by the way, there is one interesting thing to share. Has this question struck into your mind that why was a police officer on duty unarmed in the first place? Well, the answer is, most of the Sub-Inspectors in Noida Police do not have a pistol to defend themselves, as there are simply not enough firearms with the police force. So it is very common for the S.I.s of Noida Police to run after armed criminals while being unarmed themselves. What a great infrastructure, right?


News Courtesy: The Times of India (15th September, 2009), Delhi Edition.

India Loses Air Force Pilot To Road Rage

An Indian Air Force pilot, who definitely had dreamt of sacrificing his life in a glorious way in the midst of a battle, had to lose his life as a result of shocking road rage, when he was fatally stabbed by a lawyer during an argument over a petty issue, parking of cars. The gruesome incident took place in the picturesque town of Kasauli, near Chandigarh in north India.

Flt Lt Anubhav Roy - a Sukhoi pilot posted at Ambala Air Force station – had a row with Kasauli lawyer Hari Dass Tanwar, who was apparently drunk. The young officer had objected to the way Hari Dass Tanwar had parked his car. This led to two rounds of arguments, eventually leaving Anubhav stabbed by the lawyer with a kitchen knife. The injury was serious, and the young officer breathed his last before enough efforts could be made to save his life.


Apart from extremely sad, the incident is terribly scary as well. Road rage has already turned into a serious problem, especially in north India. And this incident shows how alarming the problem is. If such things continue, then what is the security of our lives?

What left me terribly shocked is that in this incident the culprit was an educated lawyer, and not a street hooligan (or something like that). With a so-called “educated gentleman” behaving in this manner, it is very natural to have this feeling that something is seriously wrong with our society.

Deaths Caused By Irresponsible Celebratory Firings At Wedding Ceremonies in North India - Where Is The End?

In yet another incident of unfortunate death caused by irresponsible celebratory firing at wedding ceremony in north India, a 14 year old boy attending a wedding ceremony was killed when another invitee, allegedly drunk, accidentally fired at him. The accused was firing in the air to celebrate the occasion, when accidentally a bullet hit the boy, killing him on the spot. The incident took place on 24th February at Ghaziabad, a satellite town of Delhi.

While the incident is extremely painful, what aggravates the pain is the sheer callousness shown by the police (and other concerned agencies) in controlling such incidents. The incident is just a fresh example of an ongoing list of similar incidents in northern India. Just few days back there took place another such incident, in Ghaziabad itself, when a guest was killed by a stray bullet – resulting from celebratory firing – while attending a wedding ceremony. A couple of years back Noida, another satellite town of Delhi, was shocked with the incident of the groom himself being killed by a stray bullet resulting from celebratory firing. And there have been many other examples which I cannot recall right now.

But the police is absolutely indifferent and callous. Everytime one such incident takes place, media and common people come up with sharp criticism, strongly appealing to the police to take strict corrective measures. The police shows a temporary activeness. And that is all. Within few days we find the old picture is back.