On May 8, the Supreme Court requested a response from the State of Bihar in response to a petition filed by the widow of murdered Gopalganj District Magistrate and IAS officer G.
Krishnaiah challenging a tweak in the Bihar prison law that enabled the early release of former Bihar MP and gangster-turned-politician Anand Mohan, who was sentenced to life in prison for the 1994 murder of her husband.
A panel of judges lead by Justice Surya Kant served notice on the Union and Mohan. It permitted Alphons Kannanthanam, a former IAS officer and Union Minister, to present his arguments in the case after granting his intervention application.
Mohan’s departure from Saharsa detention was recent.
The Bihar Prison Manual was revised on April 10 to allow those serving life sentences for grievous crimes to petition for commutation after 14 years in prison.
The amendment also eliminated the prohibition on parole for lifers convicted of the homicide of a public servant on duty. No explanation was provided for the amendment, which was made effective by a notification from the State Law Department.
Mohan and twenty-six other individuals who successfully applied for and received remission benefited from the amendment.
“Life imprisonment, when awarded as a substitute for the death penalty, must be strictly carried out as directed by the court and would be inapplicable to clemency,” the petition argued.
Critics of the Nitish Kumar Government assert that the amendment was made to facilitate the release of Mohan, a Rajput strongman who could bolster the BJP’s electoral campaign.
In 1994, Krishnaiah, a native of Telangana, was beaten to death by a mob in Muzaffarpur district for attempting to overtake the funerary procession of criminal Chhotan Shukla. Mohan, who was an MLA at the time, led the procession.
