‘Even if one child learns, my life will be successful’: How a boy’s crime pushed Delhi cop into teaching
“The boy was unaware that his knife had killed the man who was arguing with his bua (aunt). When we apprehended him, he laughed — as if it was a joke,” Yadav told the paper
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Sushil Yadav teaches children yoga at a park in Noida (Express)In 2008, Inspector Sushil Yadav witnessed something that changed his life — a young boy being apprehended for allegedly killing a man with a knife.
“The boy was unaware that his knife had killed the man who was arguing with his bua (aunt). When we apprehended him, he laughed — as if it was a joke,” Yadav told The Indian Express.
“Uncle aap jhooth bol rahe ho na? Maine to bas halke se mazaak me usko sabzi kaatne waala chaaku maara tha. Mai sach me arrest ho raha hun kya? (Uncle are you pranking me? I hit him very lightly with a vegetable cutting knife. Am I really being arrested?)” — These were the child’s words, Yadav recalled.
The knife had accidentally struck the man’s heart, leading to his death. “Two lives could’ve been saved that day if the boy had been counselled properly as a child,” he said.
From that day, Yadav, with 28 years of experience with the Delhi Police and who is now with the Special Cell, decided that he would do everything in his power to prevent such murders and to make juveniles good citizens.
According to recent National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, a total of 30,555 cases were registered against 37,780 juveniles in 2022. Over 78% of these juveniles were 16-18 years old.
Data with the Delhi Police shows that between 2014 and 2024, the percentage of juveniles involved in murder cases went up from 8.7% to 26.7%. Similarly, the percentage of juveniles using firearms has risen from 1.3% to 16% in the same period. Data shows a similar pattern in cases of causing hurt and quarrels — from 3.9% juvenile involvement in 2014 to 17.7% in 2024.
To Yadav’s mind, education and nurturing were two ways in which his goal to prevent juvenile crime could be achieved. As an investigating officer, he has overseen 20 cases involving juveniles; as an SHO, he has supervised about 150.
For the last three years, when Yadav isn’t in his uniform solving crimes, he can be spotted teaching a lot of 30 underprivileged children — from kindergarten to Class 8 — in the garden of his Noida Sector 62 apartment for three hours a day.
Along with basic education, he gives them life lessons, teaches them yoga, and the importance of planting trees. He doesn’t charge them a penny.
On one such morning, a young girl solved a division question on the blackboard. Yadav urged the others to clap for her, saying motivation propels his students forward. “I started with basic plus and minus questions… today my children can do complex division sums. This gives me joy that words cannot describe.”
Yadav said he was an average student in school. “If I can join the police, then there’s nothing these bright kids can’t achieve. Money should not get in the way of their dreams… with just a little bit of guidance, they can do whatever they put their minds to.”
His quest to be a part-time teacher was further cemented when he saw some children quarrelling in the rain in his neighbourhood. His first impulse was to scold them, but he held himself back. “I invited them to my house. I thought of teaching them. From that day, I never looked back.”
“All in one books” from Sadar Bazaar, NCERT books given to him by Arun Kumar (his friend who is an SHO), a plastic chair, and a mat for students to sit on — these are the only tools he requires to fulfil his mission.
Yadav first joined the Delhi Police as a sub-inspector in 1996. From 2010 to 2011, he served in the police training college. Then began his six-year stint with the Crime Branch. Following this, he became an SHO for a year and a half. After working in the Traffic Police unit from 2020 till February this year, he finally joined the Special Cell.
A self-proclaimed “cleanliness freak”, Yadav said he hates it when people litter in his neighbourhood park. From ice cream wrappers to cigarette stubs — he and his students clear everything out in the mornings.
This year, his students planted 42 trees in that same park — they’ve set an ambitious target of 100 for next year.
“When I’m not at home, my wife teaches them. My family is equally involved,” he said.
The birthdays of all 30 kids are on Yadav’s fingertips: “They’re my second family… they celebrate their birthdays with me.”
Every time a student who didn’t know how to add two and two recites the table of 12, Yadav’s smile grows from ear to ear. “Agar inn me se ek bachcha bhi padh liya to meri zindagi safal ho jaayegi (If even one of these students becomes successful in life, I’ll consider myself successful),” he smiled.
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