Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Uma Krishnaiah, the wife of the slain officer, said the release was an unfortunate matter.
Published May 08, 2023 | 4:55 PM ⚊ Updated May 08, 2023 | 4:55 PM
Don Anand Mohan, left, and G Krishnaiah. (Supplied)
The Supreme Court on Monday, 8 May, sought responses from the Centre and the Bihar government on a plea challenging the state government’s decision to prematurely release gangster and former MP Anand Mohan, who was serving a life term in the 1994 murder case of then Gopalganj District Magistrate G Krishnaiah.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and JK Maheshwari issued notices to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, Bihar government, and Mohan on the plea.
“The Supreme Court has admitted the case and is very keen on hearing it. It has sought the response from Bihar government and the next hearing is expected to be in the next two weeks,” an advocate from the team representing the Krishnaiah’s wife Uma Devi Krishnaiah told South First.
Krishnaiah, who hailed from Telangana, was beaten to death by a mob in 1994 when his vehicle tried to go past the funeral procession of gangster Chhotan Shukla in Muzaffarpur district.
Mohan, then an MLA, was leading the procession.
In the Supreme Court on Monday, senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Uma Krishaiah, said the release of Anand Mohan was an unfortunate matter. The bench said it was issuing notice on the plea.
On 1 May, the top court agreed to hear the plea and had listed it for 8 May.
Mohan was released from the Saharsa jail on 27 April following an amendment in Bihar’s prison rules.
The petitioner has contended that life imprisonment awarded to the gangster-turned-politician meant incarceration for his entire natural course of life and it cannot be mechanically interpreted to last just 14 years.
“Life imprisonment, when awarded as a substitute for the death penalty, has to be carried out strictly as directed by the court and would be beyond the application of remission,” she said in her petition before the Supreme Court.
“Neither the chief minister nor the prime minister should have the authority to reduce the sentence of a criminal like this. Only the Supreme Court should have the authority over that,” Uma Devi had told South First earlier.
T Uma Devi, wife of 1985 Bihar cadre IAS officer G Krishnaiah who was lynched by a mob in 1994 in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district. (Ajay Tomar/South First)
Uma Devi asserted that law and order would not prevail if each and every chief minister started taking such decisions.
She demanded that Anand Mohan’s life imprisonment continue.
Mohan’s name figured in a list of more than 20 prisoners who were ordered to be set free under a notification issued by the state’s Law Department, as they had spent more than 14 years behind bars.
The remission of his sentence followed a 10 April amendment to the Bihar Prison Manual by the Nitish Kumar government whereby the restriction on early release of those involved in the killing of a public servant on duty was done away with.
This, the critics of the state government’s decision claimed, was done to facilitate the release of Mohan, a Rajput strongman, who could add heft to the grand alliance led by Nitish Kumar in its fight against the BJP.
Anand Mohan and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar during the former’s son’s engagement ceremony. (Twitter)
Several others, including politicians, benefited from the amendment to the state prison rules.
“When my husband died, there was a law that if a public servant was killed, the convict would be sentenced to life imprisonment. There was no talk about him being released like this,” Uma Devi told South First.
Noting that the rule of the law should be uniformly applied in a country, Krishnaiah’s batchmate JRK Rao earlier told South First, “If somebody is a convict, be it a powerful man or a poor person, the law should be same for them. Several undertrial convicts are also languishing in jail, but nobody pays attention to them.”
Continuing with her demands, Uma Devi said “criminals” should not have the choice to contest elections once they were convicted.
According to some political observers, the release of Anand Mohan was an effort by the ruling RJD-JD(U) in Bihar to woo voters from his powerful Rajput, or Thakur, community, as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his Cabinet colleagues on 24 April attended Mohan’s son’s engagement function.
Taking note, political observers have not ruled out the possibility of Anand Mohan re-entering politics.
They have said that he might contest next year’s parliamentary elections from any constituency in Bihar’s Kosi region.
They added that now the Raghuvanshi-Yaduvanshi card would be played, unlike the Rajput-versus-Yadav narrative, which Mohan had focused on in the early 1990s.
Uma Devi is now hoping that the Supreme Court will overturn the Bihar government’s decision. “That will be justice to us. His life imprisonment should continue and he should not walk free,” she said.
Mohan was sentenced to death by Bihar lower court in 2007, along with two others. But the Patna High Court later commuted the penalty to life imprisonment. He has been in jail since 2007.
While the Bihar State IAS Officers Association is keeping a discreet silence on the issue, the Central IAS Association on 25 April expressed dismay at the decision of the Bihar government.
In the meantime, Krishnaiah’s batchmates are also in the process of writing to the President and other authorities demanding a repeal of the order.
The Uttarakhand IAS Association and Andhra Pradesh’s IAS Association urged the Bihar government to reconsider its decision of prematurely releasing Mohan.
“The decision of the state government to remit the sentence by changing the rules is not only a gross violation of the order of the Supreme Court but also sets a notorious precedent. The decision clearly ignores the principles of justice and appears to be insensitive to the pain of the victims,” the Uttarakhand IAS Association said in a statement.
Earlier, expressing deep anguish, the Uttar Pradesh IAS Association said, “We strongly appeal to the state government of Bihar to reconsider its decision at the earliest in the interest of the nation.”
Bihar People’s Party (BPP) member and gangster Kaushlendra alias Chhotan Shukla was murdered in 1994. His killing triggered the attack on the IAS officer Krishnaiah, which was led by Anand Mohan Singh, founder of BPP.
G Krishnaiah, 1985 batch IAS officer. (Ajay Tomar/South First)
The 37-year-old bureaucrat was attacked and lynched on the evening of 5 December, 1994, in a village on the outskirts of Muzaffarpur city by the mob protesting with the body of Shukla.
Krishnaiah’s driver Deepak Kumar’s testimony was key to getting Anand Mohan convicted.
Mohan was sentenced to death by a lower court in 2007, along with two others. But the Patna High Court later commuted the penalty to life imprisonment. Mohan has been in jail since 2007.
Four others, including Mohan’s wife Lovely Anand, were given life imprisonment and a fine of ₹25,000. The remaining 29 accused were acquitted in the joint trial.
