A police officer worthy of his title

In a display of amazing courage and great composure, police constable Atikur Rahman saved three young boys from drowning in the Hoja river of Rajshahi's Durgapur upazila—all on his own. Having been woken up in the morning by his wife, Atikur found out that three boys between the ages of 10-11 had fallen into the river, the water of which had risen recently because of the floods. The boys, who were playing on a nearby submerged bridge, had been swept away many yards by the river's strong currents.

By the time Atikur arrived on the scene, hundreds of people had already gathered around the river. Many were busy taking photographs and videos, but none had volunteered to make an attempt to save the lives of the three boys who had grown exhausted fighting the river currents. Without any hesitation, Atikur, with the help of a bamboo pole that his wife gave him, jumped into the river and slowly rescued the boys one by one. And this was not the first time that he showed such incredible bravery. About 13 years ago, Atikur had similarly saved his younger brother, who was only four years old at the time, from drowning in a village pond when he himself was only an intermediate student.

For his most recent deed, Atikur was rewarded with a certificate and Tk 30,000 in cash by the Rajshahi Superintendent of Police, who said that the district police would recommend Atik's nomination for a national reward. We too would like to make a similar recommendation.

It is these kinds of heroic actions that we expect to see from our police officers. Unfortunately, the image of our police is often tainted by the activities of errant police personnel. However, we sincerely hope that the great majority of our police officers will choose to follow the example set by Atikur of serving the people and putting public interest above everything else.