Uma Krishnaiah, the wife of IAS officer G. Krishnaiah who was killed in 1994 by a mob led by former Bihar MP Anand Mohan Singh, has filed a plea with the Supreme Court against Mohan’s early release from prison. The plea argues that life imprisonment given as a substitute for the death penalty must be carried out as directed by the court and cannot be subject to remission. It also says that Mohan’s life sentence should mean he remains incarcerated for the duration of his natural life. Mohan was released from jail on Thursday after an amendment to Bihar’s prison rules.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar faced criticism over the decision to release Mohan and defended it by referring to the Centre’s “Model Prison Manual 2016”. Kumar argued that there was no law in any Indian state that required a convict to remain in jail for the rest of their life if they killed an IAS officer. He added that there was no difference in the law for common people and government officials and asked why only Mohan’s release was being opposed when 696 prisoners had been released in Bihar since 2017.
In 1994, Krishnaiah, who was then District Magistrate of Gopalganj, was killed by a mob when his vehicle tried to overtake the funeral procession of gangster Chhotan Shukla. The mob was reportedly incited by Anand Mohan.
