New Delhi: The wife of slain Gopalganj magistrate G. Krishnaiah moved the Supreme Court Saturday challenging the release of former Bihar MP Anand Mohan, who was convicted for the murder that took place in 1994.
Uma Krishnaiah had earlier said that the Bihar government’s decision to release Anand Mohan was “not a good decision”.
“It is submitted that it is well-settled principle of law that Imprisonment for life means full natural course of Life and cannot be mechanically interpreted to be 14 years. It means that imprisonment for life lasts until the last breath,” read her petition.
“That it is settled law that the sentence of imprisonment for life given to a convict as a substitute for the death sentence must be viewed differently and segregated from the ordinary life imprisonment given as the sentence of first choice,” it said.
It went on to add, “Life imprisonment, when awarded as a substitute for death penalty, has to be carried out strictly as directed by the court and would be beyond application of remission.”
Krishnaiah, a 1985-batch IAS officer who hailed from Mahbubnagar in present-day Telangana, was lynched by a mob almost three decades back on 5 December, 1994.
In 2007, a court had convicted seven people and the remaining 29 were acquitted. Anand Mohan was later handed the death penalty, but the next year the Patna High Court had commuted it to life imprisonment.
Atish Mathur, a legal advisor on the matter, said to ThePrint, “Civil servants work tirelessly in challenging circumstances and prompt exclusion of such an exception honouring their work not only is a disservice to the steel frame but questionable in law.”
Tanya Shree, the advocate-on-record, said, “Mrs. Krishnaiah is approaching the court assailing the order of the state government to grant remission to Anand Mohan, who was convicted of killing her husband, on the ground that the same is against judgments of the apex court and is based on extraneous considerations.”
Retired IAS officer Sanjeev Chopra, who belonged to the same batch, welcomed the decision of Uma Krishnaiah. “On behalf of the 1985 batch, we are hoping we shall get justice. We have faith in the Supreme Court and the rule of law will follow,” he told ThePrint.
“A lot of people have responded favourably to the call for donations. In addition to our group, we’ve received donations from a number of state associations and individual members across the AIS and central services,” Chopra added.
Sanjeev Gupta, another retired IAS officer from the 1985 batch, believes that this fight will be a longer one. “The fight will be very long as he is out now but we have faith in our courage. we’re all in this together,” he told ThePrint.
Gupta had earlier posted a series of tweets after the news broke out that Anand Mohan was set to be released from jail.
2 cases which have shaken conscience of many. #Krishnaiah & #bilkisbano. In 1st one Remission was done based amendment 2 weeks ago. In the 2nd, Remission 'Policy' applicable as on the date of conviction was applied.
Decisions in both are based upon Para 54 (referred to in 1/3 pic.twitter.com/mKBwbiASFr
— Sanjeev Gupta (@sanjg2k1) April 26, 2023
Also Read: IAS officer lynched by mob. 30 yrs on, a statue, angry cadre, and a smiling CM with the killer
Condemnation of Nitish govt
Support for Uma Krishnaiah had come from various IAS associations, including from Andhra Pradesh, which was then the home state of her husband.
“The Central IAS Association expresses its deep dismay at the decision of the State Government of Bihar to release the convicts of the brutal killing of Late Shri G Krishnaiah, IAS, former District Magistrate of Gopalganj, by a change in classification rules of prisoners,” the association had tweeted.
“A convict of a charge of murder of a public servant on duty, cannot be re-classified to a less heinous category. Amendment of an existing classification which leads to the release
of the convicted killer of a public servant on duty is tantamount to denial of justice,” it had asserted.
The IAS Association of Andhra Pradesh, too, objected to the decision of the Bihar government. “If such an officer is attacked, then it is an open challenge to the Constitution and to the concept and functioning of the State. If the challenge is not met with an appropriate, consistent and a continuous response, it will erode the foundations of the Constitution. In this context, the orders of the State Government are unwarranted and have created dangerous precedents for the future,” it had said in a press note.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati, Republican Party of India (Athawale) president Ramdas Athawale and several others, including those from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had criticised Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for his controversial decision.
“Anand Mohan has been the compulsion of many governments in Bihar, but the anti-Dalit and pro-crime work of the Nitish government regarding the murder case of the then DM Shri Krishnaiah of Gopalganj has created a lot of fury in the Dalit society across the country. Even if there is some compulsion, the Bihar government must reconsider it,” Mayawati had said at a press briefing.
(Edited by Tony Rai)