Chennai’s heroic woman cop who carried cemetery worker to safety rewarded by Stalin

With Chennai coming to standstill following more than 3 days of heavy rainfall, TP Chatram police inspector Rajeswari’s timely action on Thursday had drawn appreciation from thousands in Tamil Nadu after she carried a cemetery worker, who was lying unconscious, on her shoulders and admitted him to a hospital. 

Rajeswari has been making headlines for her sense of commitment and expression of compassion ever since 1992. Her actions on several occasions have been a helping hand for the downtrodden. Her recurring acts of rescuing destitute women and admitting them to government homes and bravely facing persons in conflict with the law have rightly received commendations from senior police officers and words of praise from the general public. 

She had also rescued several persons during a stampede in Mahamaham in Kumbakonam in 1992. Appreciating her, former Chennai Police Commissioner Mahesh Aggarwal took to Twitter sharing last year’s video when the same team led by Rajeswari rescued a man from his house hours before it collapsed due to heavy rains. 

In June 2020, when Tamil Nadu was actively fighting the pandemic, Rajeswari had stepped in and performed the last rites of a rag picker who died in Otteri, when people refused to touch her body fearing the spread of the virus. As soon as Rajeswari reached the spot on getting the information, she covered the half-naked body with a saree and bathed her. She then took the deceased to Otteri burial ground did the last rights in the presence of a priest. 

The inspector had also been supplying groceries to those who were hit by the pandemic-induced lockdown. On Thursday, a video of Rajeswari lifting a man who was lying near an uprooted tree and carrying him to an auto-rickshaw captured millions of eyes amid the floods. According to the inspector, the man fell asleep in the cemetery under the influence of alcohol and was left inside by his fellow workers. The man was later identified as R Udayakumar, a worker at a cemetery in the inspector’s jurisdiction.