The Bihar government has argued before the Supreme Court that a person serving life in prison for a murder cannot be denied parole simply because the person who was killed was a member of the public. The Bihar government is using this argument to support its decision to free former lawmaker Anand Mohan, who was given a life sentence for ordering the murder of the Gopalganj district magistrate in 1994 but was released early after the state changed the prison’s rules.
On April 10, the laws were changed, and on April 27, the gangster-turned-politician who had served less than 16 years in prison was allowed to go.
According to the Bihar government’s affidavit, there is a limited amount of judicial interference in the state’s remission policy. “The status of a victim cannot be a factor for grant or refusal of remission…the remission of the Respondent No.4 (Mohan) was considered in accordance with the policy and as per the procedure prescribed,” it added.
It claimed that 2012 prison regulations were altered on April 10 to remove the prohibition against the early release of life prisoners convicted of killing public employees after taking into account a number of pertinent factors, and that no such distinction was made in regulations of a similar nature drafted by other states, including Delhi, Punjab, and Haryana.
“The penalty for killing a member of the public or a public official is the same. On the one hand, life convicts convicted of killing members of the general public are thought to be eligible for early release, whereas life convicts convicted of killing a public official are not seen to be eligible. The administration gave justifications for the April 10 notice, claiming that it intended to eliminate prejudice based on the victim’s status.
The statement states that it was determined that a life offender who committed the murder of a public worker was ineligible for consideration of early release since this was contrary to the penalty specified by the Indian Penal Code for murder in general.
It was said that Mohan was freed after good reviews on the matter. According to the Nitish Kumar administration, he contributed to the labour required in the prison while incarcerated and wrote three books during that time.
G Krishnaiah, the district magistrate of Gopalganj, was assassinated in December 1994. Mohan was given the death penalty by a trial court in 2007 after being found guilty of ordering the murder while serving as a member of the legislative assembly (MLA). The Patna High Court commuted Mohan’s death sentence to life in prison in 2008. He unsuccessfully appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.
After the Bihar government modified the Bihar jail Manual to enable life offenders convicted of the murder of a public worker to be eligible for early release after completing a sentence of 14 years, Mohan walked out of jail on April 27.
On April 29, Uma Krishnaiah, the deceased IAS officer’s widow, filed a petition with the Supreme Court objecting to Mohan’s early release. Her appeal stated that the state government could not automatically release somebody at the conclusion of 14 years and contested the April 10 change that made Mohan’s release possible.
In support of her claim that the state must take life-sentenced offenders into account for remission based on the law in effect at the time of conviction, Uma also referenced rulings from the highest court. Mohan was found guilty in 2007, at the height of the 2002 remission programme. Those convicted of murdering public employees while on the job were likewise prohibited from being released early under the 2002 regulation.
