He had committed no crime. But he insisted to go to a prison so that he could have free food served in the jails, which sometimes include chicken, mutton and eggs.

The authorities in the local prison in Balasore town in north Orissa Balasore district had an unexpected problem on Saturday afternoon, when a youth in his early 20s turned up at the prison gate and insisted that he be taken inside the prison. He pleaded with the officials to keep him inside jail at least for a few days so that he can have “good” food served in the prison and be healthier. “Nobody is giving me work for my poor health and I have no money to eat properly,” Rajiv Pradhan, a native of a village in coastal Puri districts told the jail authorities.

Narrating his plight, Rajiv said after he was deserted by his family, he tried his luck to get employment within the state but was unsuccessful, as he was very thin to do any work.

Then, like lakhs of other poor people in the state, he went to Surat in Gujarat as a migrant labourer. There too,  he was denied any employment for the same reason.

A disappointed Rajiv had no other option but to return to Orissa.

However, after returning home, he was struck with an unique idea — to go to jail, have some free food, get healthier and then once again look for employment. Before landing in Balasore prison, he had tried his luck in two other prisons in the state.

But on both occasions, he was told that he had to commit some crime to be inside the jail. In order to commit a crime, Rajiv once travelled without a ticket in a train and intentionally got caught by a police constable. However, the cop set him free seeing his plight.

For nearly a couple of hours, Balasore jail officials tried their best to convince the unemployed youth that they can not fulfill his wish but in vain.

He went on insisting to be a prison inmate. Finally, they had to use force to drive him away.