The Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government on Monday notified the release of 27 prisoners, including former Member of Parliament (MP) Anand Mohan Singh, days after amending the Bihar Prison Manual that triggered a massive Opposition backlash.
“In the light of the Bihar state sentence remission council meeting on April 20, 2023, the decision was taken for the release of prisoners having served actual sentence of 14 years or sentence of 20 years with remission,” said the notification issued by the state’s law department, as quoted by Hindustan Times.
Among those benefitting from the release is gangster-turned-politician Anand Mohan, a convict in the murder of then Gopalganj District Magistrate G Krishnaiah, a 1985-batch IAS officer who hailed from Mahbubnagar in present-day Telangana, on December 5, 1994 in Muzaffarpur.
Anand Mohan was sentenced to death by a trial court in 2007. A year later, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the Patna High Court. Mohan then challenged the verdict in Supreme Court but no relief has been granted yet and he has remained in Saharsa jail since 2007.
Anand Mohan, a Rajput leader, was one of the co-founders of the Samata Party along with Nitish, and is still counted as one of the state’s most prominent politicians, with sizeable clout among voters. His wife Lovely Anand has also been a Lok Sabha MP, while their son Chetan Anand is an RJD MLA from Sheohar.
Rajput leaders in the Janata Dal (United) have been putting pressure on the Mahagathbandhan government for his early release.
Nitish Kumar attends Anand Mohan’s son wedding
Interestingly, after meeting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav on Monday attended the engagement function of jailed MP’s son and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) legislator Chetan Anand.
Anand Mohan, who has till recently been in Saharsa jail, has been on parole to attend his son’s wedding.
Bihar government tweaks jail rules
The Bihar government on April 10 amended the Bihar Prison Manual, 2012, removing the “murder of a public servant on duty” clause from the list of cases for which remission of jail term cannot be considered.
As per Rule 481(i)(a) of the Bihar jail manual: “Every convicted prisoner, whether male or female, undergoing sentence of life imprisonment and covered by the provisions of Section 433A CrPC, shall be eligible to be considered for premature release from prison immediately after serving out the sentence of 14 years of actual imprisonment, i.e. without the remissions.”
It lists categories of convicted prisoners covered under the section who would be entitled to be considered for premature release only after serving 20 years, including remissions. Up until April 10, those convicted of murdering public servants on duty also fell in this category, reported The Indian Express.
Mayawati calls move ‘anti-Dalit’
Meanwhile, the move also saw a backlash from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, with Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Chief Minister Mayawati calling it “anti-Dalit”.
“The move by the Nitish government to prepare the release of Anand Mohan after changing rules in the case of the brutal murder of extremely honest IAS officer G Krishnaiah, who belonged to a poor Dalit family from Andhra Pradesh’s Mehboobnagar (now in Telangana), is being discussed for negative and anti-Dalit reasons in the whole country,” she tweeted.
She added that the decision has caused a “lot of anger in Dalit society across the country”, adding that, “even if there can be compulsions, the Bihar government must reconsider their decision”.
Who are the 26 other convicts being released?
Other convicts of heinous crimes benefiting from the government order include Dasgir Khan (75), Pappu Singh alias Rajiv Ranjan Singh (43), Ashok Yadav (46), Rajballabh Yadav alias Bijli Yadav (82), Shivji Yadav (420, Kirath Yadav (65), Collector Paswan (40), Kishundev Rai (65), Surendra Sharma (68), Devnandan Nonia (49), Rampravesh Singh (69), Vijay Singh (59), Ramadhar Ram (50), Patiram Ram (93), Hridaynarayan Sharma (55), Manoj Prasad (67), Panchadand Paswan (43), Jitendar Singh (78), Bindeshwari Yadav (83), Khelawan Yadav (85), Allauddin Ansari (42), Mohammed Khudbuddin (36), Sikandar Mahto (44) and Awadhesh Mandal (42).