Everyone knows the Uphaar cinema fire. Fifty nine people who went to watch a war film in Delhi and never came home. Almost nobody knows that the safest man in that hall, the one person trained and calm enough to walk straight out, chose to stay inside until it killed him. His name was Captain Manjinder Singh Bhinder. On the thirteenth of June 1997, he was at the Uphaar cinema in Green Park watching Border, the film about the soldiers of Longewala. He was a real one. An officer of the 61st Cavalry, a national level horseman who had just won gold at the National Games and was being talked about for the next Asian Games. He was there with his wife and his four year old son. Partway through the film, a transformer in the building caught fire. Thick black smoke began filling the balcony. The exits were few, badly lit, and some were blocked. People had minutes, and most of them did not know which way to move. He got his own family up and moving toward the way out, the way any man would. And then he turned around and went back in. He understood what a panicking crowd in the dark does. It bunches at the wrong doors, it freezes, it tramples itself. So he put himself in that stairwell and did the job he was trained to do. He took charge. He steadied people. He guided women and children through the smoke toward the narrow passage that led out, group after group, breathing that air the whole time. More than a hundred and fifty people got out of that cinema alive because a soldier stood in the dark and refused to leave until they did. He did not get out. Neither did his wife. Neither did his little boy. There is a Netflix series about the Uphaar fire. It is told, rightly, through the eyes of two parents who lost their children and spent decades fighting for justice. His name is not in it. And there is one more thing the country should be made to sit with. After he died saving over a hundred and fifty of its citizens, his elderly parents had to fight the defence ministry for years for his pension, because a clerk's rule said he had not died fighting an enemy. He walked out of that fire once, with his family, and he was safe. Then he heard the people still screaming inside, and he went back.

His name was Pradyumn Thakur. He was 7 years old. Class 2 at Ryan International School in Gurugram, Haryana. His father dropped him at the school gate at 7:55 am on September 8, 2017. At 8:08 am, he was found outside a washroom with his throat slit. He was rushed to hospital and declared dead on arrival. The school did not call the police. His parents did. Haryana Police arrived three and a half hours later. They noticed blood stains on bus conductor Ashok Kumar. The same clothes he wore while carrying a bleeding 7 year old child to a car. On September 10, the Police Commissioner held a press conference. He declared Ashok Kumar was the killer. He said Ashok had tried to sexually assault Pradyumn and murdered him. The Chief Minister of Haryana congratulated the police for solving the case. The Bar Association of Gurugram passed a resolution refusing to let any lawyer defend Ashok Kumar. The Supreme Court later disciplined them for this. Pradyumn’s mother said from day one she believed Ashok was being framed. CBI took over the case. They found no forensic evidence against Ashok Kumar. No evidence of sexual assault. The gardener who was first at the scene said he saw no blood on Ashok before Ashok helped carry the child. The claimed semen sample did not exist. [Source: CBI chargesheet 2018] In November 2017, CBI arrested the real accused. A 16 year old student at the same school. CBI said he confessed to killing Pradyumn to get his exams cancelled. He chose his victim randomly. Ashok Kumar was acquitted of all charges on February 28, 2018. [Source: Child Special Court Gurugram judgment February 28, 2018] In January 2021, CBI charged four Gurugram Police officers with framing Ashok Kumar. Falsifying documents. Torture. Criminal conspiracy. [Source: CBI chargesheet January 2021] Those four officers have not been convicted. The Police Commissioner who declared Ashok guilty on television faced no consequences. The Chief Minister who congratulated police faced no consequences. Pradyumn’s family is still waiting for justice for their son. Follow for stories India deserves to remember.

His name was Manjunath Shanmugam. He was an IIM Lucknow graduate. He got a job with Indian Oil Corporation as a sales officer. His territory was Uttar Pradesh. He found that petrol pump dealers were adulterating fuel and cheating customers. He reported it. He sealed the pumps. On November 19 2005 a petrol pump owner shot him dead outside his office. He was 27 years old. The killers were convicted. Sentenced to life imprisonment. His parents did not get compensation for 15 years. His college created the Manjunath Shanmugam Trust in his name to fight corruption. Some men die because they refused to look the other way. India forgets them too quickly.