Plea Challenging Anand Mohan's Premature Release : Supreme Court Issues Notice To Bihar Govt On Plea Of Slain IAS Officer's Wife

The Supreme Court, on Monday, issued notice in a petition challenging the decision of the Bihar Government to grant premature release to former Bihar MP Anand Mohan in the case for the mob lynching of Gopalganj District Magistrate G Krishnaiah in 1994.

A Bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice JK Maheshwari also allowed the intervention application filed by a retired IAS Officer but to the extent of providing  assistance to the Court. 

The petition was filed by Uma Krishnaiah, the widow of District Magistrate G Krishnaiah, who was killed after an attack by a mob led by Mohan. Mohan was sentenced to life imprisonment for the offence. However, he walked out of jail on April 24 after serving 14 years of imprisonment in view of the remission of sentence granted by the Bihar Government.

As per the remission policy of the State of Bihar, persons who are convicted for murder of public servants on duty were not eligible for premature release until they have completed at least 20 years of sentence. However, this bar was taken away by the State Government by amending the remission policy in April, paving the way for the release of Anand Mohan. Uma Krishaniah has challenged the circular issued by the Bihar Home Department (Prisons) on April 10 amending Rule 481(1)(a) of the Bihar Prison Manual, 2012, as per which persons convicted for “murder of a public servant on duty” are also eligible for remission. She has also challenged the premature release of Anand Mohan.

Terming the decision of the State Government has taken on the basis of "extraneous considerations", the petitioner argues that the relevant factors such as conduct of the prisoner in the jail, past criminal antecedents have been ignored. It is further argued that the amendment of the state remission policy to facilitate Mohan's release is contrary to public policy and would amount to demoralising public servants. It is argued that the policy which was prevalent at the time of the offence should be applied.

The petitioner was represented by Senior Advocate, Sidharth Luthra, AOR Tanya Shree and Advocate Ritu Raj.

[Case Title: Telugu Umadevi Krishnaiah v. State of Bihar And Ors. WP(Crl) No. 204/2023]

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