In a heartbreaking news, Mohan Paswan, the father of 15-year-old Jyoti Kumari, who cycled 1,200 km from Gurugram to Bihar amid Lockdown last year carrying him, passed away on Monday. 

He suffered a cardiac arrest in his native village Darbhanga, roughly a year after the 1,200-km journey made Kumari a household name and the ‘cycle girl’ became the face of migrant workers’ plight.

It is to be mentioned that Paswan, an e-rickshaw driver, had fractured his knee following an accident last year which rendered him unable to make a living. He and his daughter were left stranded in Gurugram and ran out of money after the nationwide lockdown was announced last year. 

Since no transport was available, Kumari bought a bicycle and pedalled with her incapacitated father on the carrier seat, from Gurugram to their village Sirhulli — a distance they covered in 12 days.