Patna: An undertrial prisoner facing murder charge in India’s Bihar state has cleared the prestigious Joint Admission Test for Masters (JAM) conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), winning laurels from various quarters.
The 23-year-old is currently lodged in a jail in Bihar for the past about a year, yet he didn’t lose heart and focused his attention on studies.
Jail authorities were pleasantly surprised after Suraj Kumar, a resident of Mosma village under Warisaliganj police station in Nawada district, secured the All India Rank (AIR) of 54 in the exam conducted by the IIT, Roorkee, in February this year. He had appeared for the examination after getting parole from the jail.
JAM is a common admission test conducted every year for admission into Master of Science (MSc) and other post-graduate science programmes at IIT, integrated PhD courses at Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, along with other government-funded institutes. The eligibility criteria for JAM is a bachelor’s degree.
Suraj, son of Arjun Yadav, had studied at Kota, considered a coaching hub in northern Indian state of Rajasthan, to prepare for the prestigious engineering exam conducted by the IIT but as he returned home, a dispute took place with the next door neighbour over petty issue leading to scuffle in April last year. His neighbour Sanjay Yadav sustained injuries in the incident as a result of which he was admitted to a local hospital. He succumbed to injuries during the course of treatment.
8 of family members are accuded in case
Suraj along with eight of his family members stand accused in the case. Subsequently, he was arrested and sent to jail. In jail, he found his all dreams shattered as he lost hope of ever focusing on his academic career in the company of gangsters, ruffians and rapists.
But a sudden incident transformed his life. While he was feeling depressed in his jail cell, the then superintendent Abhishek Kumar Pandey reached them and boosted the morale of prisoners with his motivational speech.
“Everyone has a dream. Please keep the dream alive to get success in your life. Never let them die down, never,” the very speech by the jail superintendent just transformed his life. Very soon, the prisoner met the jail superintendent and requested him to arrange for books, notes and other study materials to prepare for the IIT test and the superintendent obliged him. Thereafter, he studied with full dedication in the jail and eventually managed to clear the IIT test.
“But for the motivational speech and all kinds of support by Pandey Sir, I wouldn’t have cleared the test. I don’t know how to thank him,” Suraj wrote this in his letter to his family members after he secured AIR of 54 in the IIT test.
Local sub-divisional officer Umesh Kumar Bharti said they are happy to know a prisoner performing so well in the IIT exam. “He got 50.33 marks out of 100 and wants to study further,” the official said.
Suraj’s co-villagers are now praying for his acquittal in the murder case so that he could study further and serve the country. Suraj wants to become a scientist.
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