In this day and age, it’s a rarity to see people who offer help to others. People are too busy with their own lives, and seem to be least bothered about other’s agonies and issues. It’s common to hear about incidents of accident victims, dying due to excessive bleeding, lying on the road and crying for help, while commuters keep passing by or just watching them die and recording it on their phone, to post it on social media. We help only if it happens to be someone we know. Rowdies molest women on the streets, in broad daylight, while the crowd behaves as onlookers, unless the women are from our family. All what the responsible government authorities do about such incidents, is to look the other way, unless of course, the victim has a very high social profile. But some exceptional guys are trying to bring a change, with their efforts.
One of them is Abhishek Chauhan from Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. A lawyer by profession, Abhishek has completely dedicated himself, to the noble cause of helping people in need. People in and around his locality, as well as all over Allahabad, prefer to call him ‘Real Life Bajrangi Bhaijaan’, due to his endeavours. There have been countless occasions when he has helped strangers, without thinking twice. Recounting one such incident, Mr. Chauhan tells us, “I was on my way for some important work, when I saw a lady who was going around asking for help. I went up to her, and upon asking, got to know that she had been robbed while traveling on a train.” Without wasting further time, Abhishek took the woman along with him, to the nearby police station. Using his skills as a lawyer, he helped her in lodging an FIR, and being the ‘Good Samaritan’ that he is, he also arranged financial and other assistance for the lady to reach her home in Kolkata safely.
In his 30s, Abhishek has so far helped hundreds of people, with many of them being completely unknown to him. An advocate in the Allahabad High Court, he has served as the ‘Joint Secretary’ in Allahabad High Court’s Bar Association, as well as the ‘State Law Officer’ of the Government of Uttar Pradesh. He is the founder of an NGO ‘Lok Unnati’, where he offers ‘free legal help’ to the poor and fights for the rights of transgenders. and has also established ‘Manavta Bank’ in 2016, only to help people who are under physical, mental or emotional suffering, or even financial stress. Other than this, he has arranged for ‘free education’ of children from poor financial background. He makes it a point to give out food, warm cloths and quilts to people from the weaker section of the society, in winters. He has fed 3,000 hungry people on a single day, on the pious occasion of ‘Mauni Amavasya’. It’s amazing to know, that he has never asked about the caste or religion of the people, whom he helps.
Mr. Chauhan runs an institute called ‘Pathshala’, where children possessing talent in singing and dancing, are assisted and encouraged to participate in the auditions of reality television shows. In 2015, on the day of ‘Rakshabandhan’ Abhishek launched a helpline number 9839238666 for women facing domestic violence or any other physical, social or substance abuse. He offers legal help and guidance to women who insist on out of court settlements in such cases. More than 1,000 women have benefitted from Abhishek’s helpline so far. Not just this, the man organizes ‘Nukkad Nataks’ or street plays to spread awareness and educate people about social issues. He also arranges ‘Samuhik Vivah’ or mass marital ceremonies. The ‘Shout Out Loud’ campaign with the tag line ‘Break the silence, stop the violence’, was run by Abhishek, as a tribute to the victim of the infamous ‘Nirbhaya’ case. It gained a huge popularity within the entire Allahabad city, with its objective of ‘Violence free India for women’ resonating widely. He has organized an event in May 2017 to disseminate information about women’s empowerment, and is planning for an ‘All India Progressive People Summit’ where eminent intellectuals would be sharing their ideas on ‘India in 2019’.
Abhishek has been conferred upon with several awards by the Government of India, Government of Uttar Pradesh and some major private organizations. Some of them are, ‘Marvellous Personality of India’ award, ‘Uttar Pradesh Police Award’, the ‘Sanjogta Mahajan Memorial Award’, ‘Bal Choupal Change Makers’ award, ‘I-Next Personality’ award, ‘Humanity Achievers’ award and the ‘Great Achievers Award’. But more than these awards, he values the love, respect and admiration of the people. One of them, a daily wage labourer Raju Singh says, “I wasn’t even able to feed my children properly, but then he came as a messiah. Because of him paying for their education, my children are now able to do computer programming.” We at the The Youth, salute Mr. Abhishek Chauhan, who has worked on the ground, to bring a change in the society, instead of just sitting and cribbing.
