“I have scored 42 in mathematics and I remember you had scored 43,” she told her son, who was eagerly waiting to celebrate the moment outside the correctional home today.

“I always wanted to study, but could not study beyond Class VI because of financial reasons. I am very happy to have passed the madhyamik examination,” she told The Indian Express, on the promise she had made to her son.

Sadhukhan is among the four inmates from the Alipore Women’s Correctional Home who appeared and qualified the madhyamik examination.

There is much enthusiasm about the result of Nilima Barman (26), another murder convict serving life imprisonment, who scored A grades in both English and mathematics.

“Studying helped me forget my past. I could study for hours without thinking or bothering about my history,” says Nilima, a resident of Shyamnagar in North 24-Parganas.

Sujata Sarkar (24), a murder convict, and Papia Dalui (21) are the other two from the correctional home who have passed the examination. Undergoing trial since last three years, Dalui had passed Class IX in 2003.

The correctional home has a separate studying room for inmates, and teachers from Ramakrishna Mission made weekly visits to teach the inmates. “We could study only because there has been encouragement from the administration. Other inmates in the correctional home who have studied till higher classes also helped us,” said one of the inmates, who qualified the exam.