Images of Jyoti Kumari, the teenager who had cycled, with her injured father riding pillion, for 1,200 kilometres from Gurugram to Bihar's Darbhanga during last year's national lockdown had captured the imagination of people in the country.
Over a year after that remarkable feat, Jyoti Kumari has lost her father, who died of a cardiac arrest here on Monday.
The 14-year-old, now famed as Bihar's 'Cycle Girl' Jyoti Kumari was visiting her father Mohan Paswan who earned a living as an auto rickshaw driver in Gurgaon last year. After an accident in January 2020, Paswan had been forced to stay at home and Jyoti had arrived to help him when a national lockdown was announced and there was no public transport on the road.
With money running out as the lockdown was repeatedly extended, Jyoti noticing that her father was unable to pay the houserent and meet daily meal expenses, persuaded him to return home. They purchased an used bicycle and after convincing him to ride pillion, the girl embarked on the ardous cycled journey back to their village Sirhulli that falls under Singhwara block of Darbhangha district.
News of Jyotyi's indominitable feat caught the attention of the Cycling Federation of India (CFI) and she was also was awarded the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar.
There was a stream of applause and appreciation for her from across the world, including from Ivanka Trump, former US President Donald Trump's daughter among other netizens.
( With inputs from ANI )
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