Wednesday, January 18 2006 16:20 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Having displayed rare courage by chasing militants after they killed their schoolteacher and succeeding in apprehending one of them, teenagers Ratul Chandra Rabha and Rituparna Boro of Assam have won top honours among the 17 children chosen for the prestigious National Bravery Awards for 2005.

Rabha (14) and Boro (15) have been selected for the 'Bharat Award' for displaying exemplary courage and sense of duty in apprehending a militant.

Geeta Chopra Award has been given to ten-year-old Seidalyne Mawtyllup of Meghalaya while 13-year-old Mumbai schoolboy Sanmesh Mahesh Kalyanpur has been chosen to get the Sanjay Chopra Award. Both risked their own lives to save their siblings.

Mawtyllup showed terrific presence of mind and courage, rushing into her burning house in rural Meghalaya to save her three-month-old baby sister, while Kalyanpur, after a sustained effort, pulled out his younger sister to safety from a gutter during the recent infamous Mumbai floods.

Chanigalla Susheela (14) of Andhra Pradesh, Dugi alias Minati (14) of Orissa and 15-year-old Mahesh Kumar of Uttaranchal have been selected for the Bapu Gayadhani Award.

Susheela and Dugi get the award for standing up against child marriage while Mahesh has been selected for the award for saving a girl from the jaws of a tiger.

Among the 17 winners of the prestigious award are five girls and 12 boys, one of them, 13-year-old Shibu T getting the honour posthumously.

The other recipients are Sarath Babu, Divya T V, late Shibu T, all from Kerala, Laxman of Chhattisgarh, Mukesh Kumar Tanwar of Madhya Pradesh, Puutijungshi of Nagaland, Nelson Karam and L Pusparani Devi, both from Manipur, Nagarani Venkateswara Rao of Andhra Pradesh and Santosh Ramesh Dahe of Maharashtra.

Pusparani, who saved a child from drowning, is the youngest awardee at nine years.

Proudly narrating their tale of courage, dating back to May 10, 2004, Rabha said, "At that point of time, I was so angry at these militants for killing our dear teacher. The feeling was that I will not spare them. Me and Rituparna kept chasing them even when the other schoolchildren ran away when they began firing."

The two kids kept up the chase, even going after them on a bicycle for sometime and climbing a hill after them.

"The militants began climbing a hill. One of the militants, with a gun in one hand and a grenade in another, threatened me with dire consequences. But I threw a stone at him, which hit him on the head. He fell down and we caught hold of him," he said.

Sporting smart red blazers, the children, who will receive the award from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on January 24 and will participate in the Republic Day parade, were introduced to the Delhi media today as the awards were announced.

The winners of the Bharat Award will get Rs 10,000 each as cash prize while the other awardees will get Rs 5000 each.

The family of the awardee being honoured posthumously will be given Rs 7000.

Apart from this, the children will be granted financial assistance until they complete their schooling under the Scholarship Programme of the Indian Council for Child Welfare.