Ankit is among the 22 children who will receive the National Bravery Awards from the Prime Minister on January 24, and participate in the Republic Day parade.

Four awards will be given posthumously.

Meher Legha from Noida will get the award for preventing a help from robbing her house. The help had killed her grandmother and younger brother, and planned to kill her too.

Babita (17) and Amarjeet (15), who saved several children from drowning in Haryana in August last year, will receive the Bharat Award.

Their school bus had fallen into the Yamuna Canal and the duo saved the lives of the other children in the bus. Six children died in the incident and Amarjeet had to be hospitalised.

The prestigious Geeta Chopra award goes to Mizoram's Lalrempuri, who resisted rape and died while fighting her assailant. The award is given posthumously.

For Congress Kanwar (13), it was a fight for her dignity and right to education. Her father, as per community tradition, wanted to get her married. But she called the police the day her family was finalising the marriage. "I saw my three elder sisters being married off very early. I did not want that to happen to me," she said.

"I informed the police when the guests were having dinner. My father and relatives beat me up and locked me in a room after the guests left," she said.

Her isolation eventually ended with the intervention of her school teacher, who managed to persuade her parents to let her study.