New Delhi The wife of slain IAS officer and Gopalganj District Magistrate G Krishnaiah, who was killed in December 1994, by mob led by former Bihar MP Anand Mohan, has moved the Supreme Court challenging his premature release from jail.
Mohan walked out of prison on April 24 after the Bihar government introduced a minor tweak in the Bihar Prison Manual on April 10 that exempted life convicts involved in murder of a public servant to be eligible for release under the state’s premature release policy after serving a sentence of 14 years.
Uma Krishnaiah, wife of the slain IAS officer, filed the petition on Saturday through advocate Tanya Shree. “The decision of the state government has been assailed on the ground that it goes contrary to past decisions of the Supreme Court which lay down that life sentence means the entire life. The state cannot mechanically release any prisoner at their whims and fancies after completion of 14 years,” said Tanya Shree while speaking about the petition.
She challenged the circular issued by the Bihar Home Department (Prisons) on April 10 amending Rule 481(1)(a) of the Bihar Prison Manual, 2012. This rule, prior to amendment, required life convicts facing punishment for “murder of a public servant on duty” to be considered for premature release under Section 433A (relating to the state’s remission policy) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) after completion of 20 years (including remission). The April 10 amendment excluded this category of offence from the requirement of 20 years sentence and placed it under the general rule of 14 years.
The petition further stated that the state government order is also contrary to the relevant laws applicable to remission such as conduct of prisoner in jail, past criminal antecedents, have to be examined prior to grant of release. “The release has been purely on extraneous considerations. The relevant factors to be examined for premature release have not been considered,” the lawyer for the victim said.
Mohan’s name figured in a list of more than 20 prisoners who were ordered to be set free by a notification issued by the state’s law department earlier this week as they had spent more than 14 years behind bars.
