Kolkata girl gives free of cost karate lessons to slum girls

"It was after the Nirbhaya incident that I started teaching karate to slum girls free of cost," said 20-years-old epileptic Ayesa Noor who is popularly known as "The Golden Slum girl" in her area.

"Today every girl needs to learn karate as only this will protect her in times of distress," Ayesha, a resident of a slum in Kolkata, told ANI.

"As my mentor, Mohammad Akhtar Ali, taught me karate free of cost, hence I want to give free of cost karate lessons to girls living in slums," she added.

Ayesha Noor has been karate enthusiast since she was five. Though her family faced hardships when she lost her father in 2010, it did not deter her determination to learn karate.

"I salute Prime Minister Narendra Modi for launching 'She Inspires Us' campaign and I pray that every house gets one Ayesha. She, despite her health, wants to continue her fight against rape and crime by teaching karate to other girls," said Mohammad Akhtar Ali.

Taiba Tasneem, one of the students of Ayesha's karate class, said, "Ayesha is our inspiration. She has been teaching karate since 2013 and this year 21 girls from this slum are going to compete at the international level in Thailand."

Since the launch of 'She Inspires Us' campaign on Thursday, the campaign has been receiving a lot of support. Common people and political leaders like Home Minister Amit Shah, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal have tweeted under the hashtag #SheInspiresUS.

Indian Army and Central Railways have also shared several stories.