india

Updated: Jul 21, 2019 08:20 IST

The 73rd birthday of a city businessman here on Saturday became liberation day for 17 jail birds, as he decided to ‘gift’ bail money for prisoners who could not afford it.

Businessman Motilal Yadav deposited ₹32,380 as the penalty amount of inmates who could not afford to do so and were languishing in prison for an extended period after being booked in petty offences. Superintendent of the district jail Shashikant Mishra said, “Today, on the occasion of his 73rd birthday, local businessman Moti Lal Yadav came with the offer that he wanted to pay the penalty amount of the inmates who were unable to do so and were forced to stay in jail.”

He said, “These inmates were arrested for various offences and were in prison for different periods. They were unable to pay the penalty amount.”

“A convict Sagar was arrested on August 17 in 2016 and his term ended a year ago. His conduct was good but as he could not pay Rs. 1,089 as penalty, he was forced to stay here,” Mishra said, citing an example. Businessman Motilal Yadav said, “After reading an article in a newspaper about a businessman who donated steel glasses for the inmates, my son suggested I should also do something for the inmates. After that I asked my younger son to approach the jail officials.”

“My younger son is an advocate and he suggested I should pay the penalty amount of the inmates who were unable to pay it themselves and were languishing behind the bars,” he said.

“Today, on the occasion of my 73rd birthday, I went to the district jail and after the formalities, 17 inmates from Agra and other districts were released,” Yadav said. “Besides, I also paid some money for the fare and food of about 8 inmates who were from other districts, so that they should not have to travel without a ticket and on an empty stomach,” Yadav said.

“Earlier too, I used to organise such things for needy people on my birthday. I also organised a ‘bhandara’ for visually impaired students of ‘Soorkuti’ in the past but this time I got the idea to do something for hapless jail inmates,” he said. His son Vijay said,“ Every year, he does something for needy people. So this time when he wished to do something for the inmates, we supported him wholeheartedly.”