Kalash Jaiswal undergoes treatment at Seva Sadan in Ranchi. Picture by Manik Bose

Ranchi, Nov. 7: A six-year-old lay on a hospital bed in room number 122 at Nagarmal Seva Sadan. Her right leg has been numbed below the knee and her toes on the right foot have been amputated. Still she feels no pain.

Risking her life, this little braveheart saved her younger sister’s life barely three weeks ago.

On October 14 afternoon, people near the weekly bazaar on Khunti-Karra road suddenly heard a vehicle screeching to a halt. Rushing towards the direction, they saw the truck that had applied brakes.

Craning his neck, a man in the crowd noticed two little girls lying on the road behind the truck. While the older one was sitting on the road with an injured leg, the other was crying on the roadside.

The younger girl was found to be unharmed, while the older one was happy on finding the younger girl safe. On being questioned, the girls disclosed that they were sisters, Kalash (6) and Tashu (4) Jaiswal, the daughters of Dilip Kumar Jaiswal, a cloth vendor at Choudhary Mohalla in Khunti. An eyewitness disclosed Kalash had injured herself in a bid to save her sister.

“The older girl was holding her sister’s left hand. Hearing a truck coming from behind, she had dragged her sister towards the roadside. But before she could save herself, the left wheel of the speeding truck had run over her right leg,” said Devendra Bhagat, a neighbour of the Jaiswals, quoting an eyewitness.

The Khunti police confirmed that the accident took place around 4.30pm on October 14. “We seized the truck and local residents took the girl to hospital. An FIR has also been lodged in this connection,” said a police official at the Khunti police station.

Kalash is undergoing treatment at the hospital since October 15. Three doctors, including S.N. Yadav, Anant Sinha and Anand Verma, are attending to her. They have suggested skin grafting for her right leg, but are unsure whether the girl would ever be able to walk normally or not.

The girl’s mother, Sarita Jaiswal, said Kalash never cried in pain. When this correspondent approached her, Kalash refused to discuss the accident. She just mumbled that she was a student of preparatory class at Ideal National Academy and wanted to become a doctor in future.“I want to go home. I am fed up with hospital life,” she said.

The assistant state commissioner of All India Boys’ Scout Association, Arwind Kumar Lal, who met Kalash at the hospital, said she deserved a bravery award.

Other than Tashu, Kalash has two more siblings, Swati (10) and Yash (2).