Father of Bihar girl, who cycled 1,200 km with him last year, passes away

Mohan Paswan, the father of Bihar’s ‘Cycle girl‘, passed away on Monday after he suffered a cardiac arrest at his native village in Darbhanga district, news agency ANI reported.

Jyoti had shot to fame after she had cycled 1200 km from Gurugram to Bihar over eight days with her ailing father in tow during the nationwide lockdown last year.

Fearing that they would soon be turned out by their landlord from their Gurugram lodgings, Jyoti had asked her injured father to sit on the rear side carrier of her cycle as she pedaled home.

Jyoti started her journey on May 7 last year and reached her home on May 16. Running out of savings, struggling to afford two meals, and with no train or bus available, the daughter decided to take the road, “on an impulse”. Mohan was nursing a fractured knee from a road accident.

Jyoti’s story had touched many — from politicians to bureaucrats and business tycoons to NRIs. US President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump had also heaped praise calling her journey a “beautiful feat of endurance”. She was also offered a trial from the Cycling Federation of India, which she later declined, citing her choice to rather focus on study.