A soldier is never off duty: Policemen chooses lockdown's duty over mother's funeral

Shantaram, a Sub- Inspector posted at Vijaywada, has lost his mother three days ago. Even after being granted leave to attend the last rites, he chose to stay back and attend his duties as a police officer. The officer also informed his younger brother that he would attend the funeral on a video call if needed.

Vijaywada (Andhra Pradesh):A soldier is never off duty. Though this was a tagline of a movie- Holiday, starring actor Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha a real-life hero emerges from Andhra Pradesh's Vijaywada district where a cop has chosen lockdown duty over attending his mother's funeral.

Shantaram, a Sub- Inspector posted at Vijaywada, has lost his mother three days ago. Even after being granted leave to attend the last rites, he chose to stay back and attend his duties as a police officer.

"I have lost my mother three days ago at my hometown Vizianagaram. I wanted to attend my mother's last rites. But, If I had to go to my hometown for the funeral, the journey would take me two days and I must cross four districts and 40 checkpoints, meeting many people on the way. This can boost the chances for the spread of the deadly virus. Also, I would have to quarantine myself for 15 days upon arrival and I would not be able to participate in the final rites", said SI Shantaram.

The police officer also informed his younger brother that he would attend the funeral on a video call if needed.

Meanwhile, after the video of the super cop went viral on social media, DIG Palaraju praised the decision of the Santharam and applauded his attempt for being a role model for his fellow policemen adding the incident is a testament to the commitment of the police on duty.

Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an unprecedented three-week lock down - the world's largest - which came into effect on March 25 to curb the spread of the COVID-19 which claimed 54 lives and infecting more than 2000 people in the country.

The virus has killed over 51,000 globally with the largest number of deaths in Italy, followed by Spain and the United States.