New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Center and the Bihar government on a plea challenging the state government’s premature release of former MP Anand Mohan, who is serving life term in the 1994 murder case of the then Gopalganj District Magistrate G Krishnaiah. Asked for answer. A bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice JK Maheshwari issued notice to the Union Home Ministry, Bihar government and Mohan on the petition. First, senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Uma Krishnaiah, wife of the late officer, said it was an unfortunate case. The bench said that it is issuing notice on the petition.
The apex court had on May 1 agreed to hear the plea and listed it for May 8.
Mohan was released from Saharsa Jail on April 27 following an amendment in Bihar’s prison rules.
The petitioner has argued that the sentence of life imprisonment to the gangster-turned-politician means imprisonment for his entire natural life and cannot be mechanically interpreted to last only for 14 years.
In her plea before the Supreme Court, she said, “Imprisonment for life, when given as an alternative to the death penalty, should be strictly enforced as directed by the court and would be beyond application of remission.”
Mohan’s name was among the list of over 20 inmates who were ordered to be set free by a notification issued by the state law department earlier this week after they had spent over 14 years behind bars.
His sentence was commuted after the Nitish Kumar government amended the Bihar Jail Manual on April 10, lifting the ban on early release for those involved in the killing of a public servant on duty.
This, critics of the state government’s decision claim, was done to facilitate the release of Mohan, a Rajput muscleman who could have provided weight to the Nitish Kumar-led Mahagathbandhan in its fight against the BJP. Many others, including politicians, benefited from the amendment to the state’s prison rules.
Krishnaiah, who hails from Telangana, was lynched by a mob in 1994 when his vehicle tried to overtake the funeral procession of gangster Chhotan Shukla in Muzaffarpur district.
The then MLA Mohan was leading the procession.