AS India’s capital baked in a heat wave, banker Gaurav Gupta sat down for lunch at a new air-conditioned restaurant, to be greeted by a smiling waiter who took his order for a traditional “thali” meal of flat bread, lentils, vegetables and rice.

    Nothing unusual, except that the employee, like most of his colleagues, is a convicted murderer serving time in India’s largest prison complex.” Tihar Food Court” in west Delhi, a rehabilitation effort kicked off by the Tihar prison, opened in the first week of July on an “experimental basis” while awaiting formal clearances.

    With a spacious interior lined with wooden tables and walls adorned with paintings done by prisoners, the 50-seat restaurant has been praised for the polite behavior of its employees.

    “The food is average,” said Gupta. “But it’s a good thing they are employing prisoners.” Restaurant manager Mohammad Asim said there are around 50 customers every day, and each worker was paid 74 rupees (US$1.20) for the day’s work.

    To be eligible to leave prison and work in the restaurant, inmates must have kept up an “unblemished record” through at least 12 years of imprisonment, besides a high school education. Prisoners eligible to be released within two years are picked for the job, to minimize their temptation to escape. They travel to work by cycle or on foot, as authorities “trust them enough” not to need a security escort.

    “The restaurant was set up to give employment to the inmates and project the positive aspects of prison work to the public,” said Gupta. (SD-Agencies)