Real Heroes is an annual event that felicitates and recognises selfless people who have done something for betterment of the society.
Anson Thomas and Ashok Rathod from Mumbai were honoured with the Real Heroes Award by CNN-IBN, in partnership with Reliance Industries, on Thursday. Real Heroes is an annual event that felicitates and recognises selfless people who have done something for betterment of the society.
Thomas, 42, has been working for the uplift of women in red-light areas since 1991. A preventive officer in the Customs department, Thomas has rescued 650 girls from being forced into prostitution. “All the girls have either been sent back to their villages or are safe in institutions here,” he said.
Thomas initially started working with the children of prostitutes and encouraged the Marthoma Church to rehabilitate them. His efforts paid off when an institution, Navjeevan, was started in Murbad for these children.
Thomas had to face life-threatening situations, but that didn’t deter him from doing social work. The police too were not supportive. “I received several threats from brothel keepers, goons and the mafia,” he said.
According to him, there are more than 50,000 girls in brothels who haven’t come there by choice. Thomas’s wife and friends have been very supportive. “I do social work in my spare time. If we all come together, we can save countless innocent girls.” Thomas will donate his award money to a girl he rescued in 1996, so that she can buy a new place for herself and her husband.
Ashok Rathod, 20, is a resident of Ambedkar Nagar in Colaba. A slum-dweller himself, he teaches slum children lessons of life through football. Rathod was into sports from his childhood and experienced positive changes in his life through them.
“I became more confident through sports, and my communication skills improved,” he said. Rathod saw his classmates work and misuse the money they earned by gambling, drinking and smoking. He wanted to stop all this and encourage children to study. “I combined sports and education to spread my message,” he said.
Rathod also conducts tuition classes with the help of his friends. He has been a football coach and is teaching for the past two years. Born into a family of fisherfolk, Rathod, a Class XII pass out, works as a youth mentor for an NGO named Magic Bus. “I am excited and nervous. I will use the award money to set up an NGO of my own.”
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