In a moving gesture that goes to prove that the tough men in khaki also have a soft spot, the Hyderabad City Police on Wednesday fulfilled the lifelong wish of a terminally-ill ten-year-old boy by making him the city Police Commissioner for a day.
Blood cancer patient, Mohammed Sadiq, who hails from Karimnagar district, has wanted to become a policeman for as long as he can remember. Inspired by the policemen in his family, not only did little Mohammed want to join the police force the ambitious boy dreamt of being a Police Commissioner one day.
However, Mohammed’s life-threatening ailment did not give him a chance to realize his dream, until a voluntary organization, Make A Wish Foundation, stepped in and worked with the police department to fulfill his dream on Wednesday.
Clad in khaki and sporting a police cap, as the boy entered the City Police Commissioner’s office, Commi-ssioner Mahinder Reddy and other officials gave him a salute and escorted ‘Police Commissioner Mohammed’ to his chambers where a confident Mohammed occupied the chair in the presence of the media. The event had all the trappings of a senior IPS officer taking charge of his office.
“I am very happy to be able to fulfill the lifelong dream of the boy and I wish him a long and healthy life,” said a smiling Police Commissioner Reddy. The boy’s father, Mohammed Raheemuddin, was overcome by emotion. “I am very grateful to the Hyderabad Police and Make A Wish Foundation for the way they have fulfilled a lifelong dream of my ailing son,” he said in a choked voice.
“I want to catch rowdies”, said a beaming Mohammed Sadiq when asked what his first job would be as the ‘Police Commissioner’. Make A Wish Foundation worked hard to fulfill little Mohammed’s dream as the doctors attending the chirpy boy battling for his life had said that the experience might help improve his health and even prolong his life a bit.
Pushpa Devi of Make A Wish Foundation said that her organization has been working to fulfill the wishes of seriously ill children all over the country and arrange meetings with many celebrities. “We have made an appeal to film star Pavan Kalyan to meet a girl from Khammam who is suffering from brain tumour”, she said. Recently, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao fulfilled the wish of another terminally ill child by meeting him.