On his 14th birthday, kid sends 14 prisoners home

BHOPAL: Ayush Kishore, a class 10 student of Bhopal, is turning out to be the lifeline for prisoners who have served their jail term but are still behind bars because they can’t pay the fine. As he turned 14 this year, Ayush decided to get 14 such prisoners released on Independence Day by donating Rs 27,850 towards their fines. Twelve of them are from the Indore jail and two are from Bhopal — all of them are murder convicts.

On Republic Day this year, he had secured the release of four such prisoners. Winner of the National Child Award for exceptional achievement in academics in 2016, and felicitated by then President Pranab Mukherjee, Ayush has received several scholarships from his school for being an allrounder. He has won gold medals in several national and international competitions.

It was the aftermath of the Bhopal jailbreak of October 2016 that proved a turning point. “During the SIMI jailbreak, a jail constable was killed and his daughter was to get married a few days later. I wanted to help his family so I asked my mother to donate Rs 10,000 that I had got as prize money for his daughter’s wedding. Later, I was informed that she was helped by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. On seeing my interest in helping people, my mother suggested that I donate my prize money for prisoners who have completed their punishment but are serving additional jail term because they are unable to pay the fine.”

“The joy of helping in the release of four prisoners in January this year can’t be put in words,” he told TOI. “They were so happy to meet their families. Their joy served as inspiration for me. I decided to help more such prisoners. I met a prisoner who had completed his punishment two years ago, but was still in jail. Seeing him I decided to help as many as I could. Many of them had fines of Rs 6,000,” he added.

His mother, assistant IG-planning branch, Vinita Malviya said, “Ayush is excellent in academics. He is in the Limca Book of Records for winning the Aloha International Arithmetic Competition. After he showed an interest in helping the martyred constable’s family after the SIMI jailbreak, I did not want him to lose the spirit of helping others. So, I suggested that he help prisoners. After he helped in the release of four prisoners, he met them and their families and was inspired to do it again.”