Linkan Subuddhi

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 26: Named after Abraham Lincoln, Linkan Subuddhi, too, fought from the front at a time when the youth’s concern for women is mostly limited to social networking sites or candle rallies.

By putting her life at stake to save a 15-year-old girl in Noida from child marriage, the 29-year-old braveheart, Linkan Subuddhi, has become an inspiration for many. At present, the Odia woman, who works as an IT employee in Noida, is being treated at a private hospital there. Though it is only a couple of days that she recovered from coma, Linkan’s kin insist that she would continue her social service.

Daring and compassionate since childhood, Linkan’s family says there have been many instances in the past where she had come out strong. Linkan, daughter of Rajkishore Subuddhi a retired junior commissioned officer from Assam rifles, was once alone with her father while other family members were at Sarankul village in Nayagarh. A flash flood had struck Shillong. While others were looking for her, she did not panic even though water had entered the house. Linkan was found two days later, sitting on a table in a room.

On another occasion, Linkan, then a Plus Two student at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Sambalpur, was walking home with her two siblings. A group of three boys passed lewd comments at her. She did not take it lying down, but walked across and slapped the eve-teasers.

In the latest incident, Linkan stepped into to stop the marriage of a 15-year-old girl. Her resistance earned her a cut on her neck, while the mother of the girl’s would-be groom smashed her head.

Linkan’s younger brother Arun reminisced that she had earlier helped foil another such attempt by the minor girl’s parents to marry her off.

“This time, she had gone to convince them not to marry her off. Even several criminals were threatening her in the area,” said Arun.

“She was taking care of my study and sending me money. She spent the rest on social work, taking care of educational needs of children living in slums near her home,” said Arun.

“The attackers must be punished or people will not get involved in social causes,” said Linkan’s mother Ahalya Subuddhi.

The National Commission for Women has written to the Centre and both the Odisha and Uttar Pradesh governments to confer her with bravery award, her financial support and security.