How an 18-Year-Old Made It to IIT after Living in a Jail for Two Years

From preparing for engineering entrance exams inside a jail, to securing a rank of 453 in IIT JEE – 18-year-old Piyush Goyal’s journey has been one of hard work and determination.

By Tanaya Singh

June 29, 2016

From preparing for engineering entrance exams inside a jail, to securing a rank of 453 in IIT JEE – 18-year-old Piyush Goyal’s journey has been one of hard work and determination.

Piyush’s father, Phool Chand Goyal is a convict in a murder case. He is close to finishing his 14-year-long sentence and has the permission to live in the open jail in Kota because of his good behaviour.

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Picture for representation only. Source: Wikimedia

The open jail is a correctional facility from where convicts can go out of the campus to work during the day, but have to return to their cells by evening. Phool Chand works at a jail shop in the city and earns Rs. 12,000, which is not enough to help Piyush stay at a hostel and prepare. However, he has enrolled his son in a coaching institute and Piyush has been living with his father for the last two years in a room that is barely 8X8 feet in size. He worked very hard in spite of many adverse situations like the lights going out at 11:00 pm every night.

“The jail is not so bad. People think the atmosphere is very bad here, but that is not so…today I have fulfilled my father’s dream. He showed great courage by keeping me here and funding my studies,” he told NDTV.

“We are happy that he was successful despite such adverse circumstances…Piyush was always seen studying. Phool Chand wanted to give Piyush an identity other than that of a jail inmate’s son, and he did it,” said Jail Superintendent Shankar Singh. Jail authorities hope that they will be able to increase facilities for inmates, especially those in open jails.

Phool Chand hails from Dakiya village in Rajasthan where he was a school teacher. He was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted in a murder case in 2007.

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