NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday sought a response from the Bihar government on a plea filed by T Umadevi Krishnaiah, wife of slain IAS officer G Krishnaiah, challenging premature release of life term convict former Bihar MP Anand Mohan from jail.
On December 5, 1994, Mohan, the then MLA, leading a mob at a national highway in Muzaffarpur, made exhortation to kill Krishnaiah, then Gopalganj district Magistrate allegedly to take a revenge for murder of one Chhotan Shukla.
After briefly hearing senior advocate Sidharth Luthra on behalf of the petitioner, who referred to the case as "unfortunate" one, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and J K Maheshwari issued notice to the Bihar government and fixed the matter for hearing next week.
The plea contended the Bihar government has specially brought about an amendment on April 10, 2023 to the Bihar Prison Manual 2012 with retrospective effect, in order to ensure that the convict Mohan be granted benefit of remission.
"The said amendment of April 10, 2023 is against the notification of December 10, 2002 as well as against the public policy and has resulted in demoralisation of the Civil Servants in the State. Therefore, it suffers from the vice of malafide and is manifestly arbitrarily and is contrary to the idea of a welfare state," it said.
"In order to facilitate the pre-mature release of the convict, the State of Bihar vide Notification dated April 10, 2023 amended Rule 481(i)(a) of the Bihar Prison Manual 2012 with retrospective effect from the date of notification of Bihar Prison Manual, 2012 (i.e. 12.12.2012) by deleting the phrase "Or for murder of public servant on duty". Thereafter, within fortnight of Notification dated April 10, 2023, the convict was granted remission vide Order dated April 24, 2023 by the State of Bihar in utter disregard of the judgments of this Court, Notification dated 10.02.2002 and procedure contemplated under Bihar Prison Manual, 2012," it said.
The plea filed by Umadevi also stated that life imprisonment, when awarded as a substitute for death penalty, has to be carried out strictly as directed by the court and it would be beyond the application of remission.
"In the present case, the convict is a politically influential person and has committed the murder of Krishnaiah a serving IAS Officer, while himself being an MLA. He enjoys political support and has several criminal cases pending against him," it stated.
The plea also claimed the grant of remission to Mohan is in contravention of the notification of December 10, 2002 which was applicable on the date of conviction i.e. on October 05, 2007.
"Therefore, order dated 24.04.2023 by the State of Bihar is violation of notification dated 10.12.2002 as well as in contravention of judgments of the apex court," it said.
The plea submitted that life imprisonment handed down to the gangster-turned- politician meant incarceration for his entire natural course of life as in his case, he was awarded death penalty on October 5, 2007 by the trial court which was commuted to rigorous life imprisonment by the Patna High Court on December 10, 2008 and confirmed by the Supreme Court on July 10, 2012.
Mohan was released from Saharsa jail on Thursday morning following an amendment in Bihar's prison rules.
Filing the writ petition, the wife of slain officer also pointed out the apex court has consistently held that the rules of remission applicable at the time of conviction must be considered for deciding the application of pre-mature release. Thus, the rules as applicable at the time of petitioners conviction in 2007 would be applicable for considering his application for remission.
Her plea also cited Rule 481(1)(c) of Bihar Prison Manual, 2012, which provided that convicts whose death sentence has been commuted to life sentence will be eligible for consideration of remission only after completion of 20 years of sentence.
"In the present case, Mohan was awarded death sentence by the Trial Court on 5.10.2007, which was later commuted to rigorous imprisonment for life by the Patna High Court and has been confirmed by the apex court. That the convict Anand Mohan has served only 14 years of incarceration and therefore, he is not eligible to be considered for remission as per Rule 481 (1)(c) of the Bihar Prison Manual, 2012," it said.
1985-batch IAS officer Krishnaiah (37), who hailed from Telangana, was beaten to death by a mob when his vehicle tried to overtake the funeral procession of gangster Chhotan Shukla in Muzaffarpur district.
