Meet the 18-year-old who made it to IIT studying from a cell in Kota jail

(Piyush Goyal responding to congratulatory messages from inside the jail. Image credit: NDTV)

Eighteen-year-old Piyush Goyal, an engineering aspirant- just like countless others in the country managed to secure a rank of 458 in the engineering entrance exams.

This would have been good news for any other person as it guaranteed entry into any of the top IITs, but for Goyal this was more than a piece of good news. This was victory.

For the past two years, the 18-year-old has been studying day and night like any other engineering aspirant- but unlike every other engineering aspirant who was doing the same from the comfort of their homes, Goyal was doing it at the Open Jail in Kota where his father is a convict.

His father, Phool Chand Goyal originally hails from Dakiya village in Rajasthan and used to be a school teacher until he was convicted in a murder case in 2007 and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Being a convict in a murder case, his father, Phool Chand Goyal had meagre resources. There was not enough money to spend or books neither could he afford his son staying at a hostel in the city. As a result, the young boy had to live in a room which was barely 8x8 feet and where the lights were out right at 11 pm in the night.

There was a lot to complain about. But, Goyal toiled hard.

And, after the results came out, his hardships hardly seemed to matter for him.

“The jail is not so bad,” he said.

He also thanked his father for showing great courage by keeping him in the jail with him and funding his studies.

“Today, I have fulfilled my father’s dream,” Goyal added proudly.

His father, Phool Chand who is almost done serving his 14-year-jail sentence has been allowed to live in an open jail due to his good behaviour. This means, he can go out of the jail campus for work but has to ensure that he’s back in his cell by evening.

In the past two years, he has been funding his son’s studies from the Rs 12,000 salary he got from working at a shop in the city. Using that money, he sent Goyal to a coaching institute in Kota for his preparations. He even stayed and slept outside the tiny room from 6 pm to 2 am so his son wouldn’t be disturbed while studying.

Phool Chand said that though it was difficult for his son to study inside a cell, the jail administration kept encouraging Goyal.

For, the eighteen-year-old’s journey has just begun.