New Delhi: Bihar Government has informed the Supreme Court that slain IAS officer G Krishnaiah's wife Uma Krishnaiah plea challenging premature release of Bihar politician Anand Mohan from prison is not maintainable and urged the top court to dismiss it.
In the affidavit filed in the top court, Bihar Government told the SC that slain IAS officer G Krishnaiah's wife Uma Krishnaiah plea is not maintainable and says there is no fundamental Rights involved in the matter related to remission policy of the State since the remission is always between the State and the convicts.
Defending its decision, Bihar Government informed SC that the victim and/or his relative has not been conferred with any right to interfere in the State remission policy framed under an Act or Constitutional provisions.
Bihar Government informed the apex court that State has formulated remission policy to regulate grant of remission to the convicts. Any such policy only confers certain benefits and rights upon the convict and it does not take away any right of the victim. Therefore, a victim cannot claim violation of fundamental rights to file petition under Article 32, Bihar Government told SC.
The government stated that "The petitioner has alleged violation of Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution. In fact, the convicts claiming remission also approach the court for violation of Article 14 and 21. The victim has not been deprived of any of her rights due to change in policy or grant of remission to the respondent."
Bihar Government said all enactments and subordinate legislation come with a presumption of constitutionality and it is up to the individual challenging an enactment to display how the same suffers from a Constitutional vice. "In the present case, not a single ground has been averred, much less shown, to disclose how the amendment may possibly be ultra virus the constitutional scheme. As such, the petition is clearly devoid of merit, " Bihar Government said.
Bihar Government submitted that it is committed to ensuring the protection and security of all public servants. In this regard, sufficient provisions exists under the law to act as a deterrent to persons who may considered committing such offence.
The government also submitted that the petitioner has not made his case establishing any omission or transgression of powers by the State Government in bringing out the amendment in question.
Justifying its decision, Bihar Government said that the petitioner attempts to proffer a very simplistic view of the matter when she seeks to draw a straight line between the amendment to the manual and release of the prisoners and further added this is certainly not the case and any person eligible for remission will have to have their cases considered in terms of Rule 482 of the manual.
Additionally, it called slain IAS officer G Krishnaiah's wife Uma Krishnaiah plea challenging premature release of Bihar politician Anand Mohan from prison not maintainable and urged the SC to dismiss it.
The reply was filed on petition by IAS officer G Krishnaiah's wife Uma Krishnaiah challenging premature release of Bihar politician Anand Mohan from prison.
Uma Krishnaiah, in the plea, said that the State of Bihar has specially brought about an amendment to the Bihar Prison Manual 2012 with retrospective effect vide Amendment dated April 10 2023, in order to ensure that the convict, Anand Mohan be granted benefit of remission.
She said that amendment dated April 10 2023 is against the Notification dated December 12, 2002 as well as against the public policy, and has resulted in demoralisation of the Civil Servants in the State, therefore, it suffers from the vice of malafide and is manifestly arbitrarily and is contrary to the idea of a welfare state.
Notably, gangster-turned-politician Anand Mohan Singh, a convict in the then District Magistrate G Krishnaiah case, walked free from Saharsa jail before the break of dawn on April 27.
He was serving a life sentence in the 1994 murder of then Gopalganj District Magistrate G Krishnaiah. After the Bihar Government amended the rules of the Jail manual, an official notification stated that 27 prisoners who have served 14 years or 20 years in jail have been ordered to be released.
The gangster-turned-politician was earlier on parole of 15 days to attend the engagement ceremony of his MLA son Chetan Anand. He had returned to Saharsa jail on April 26 following the end of his parole period.
Mohan was convicted in murder case of Gopalganj District Magistrate G Krishnaiah on December 5, 1994, in Muzaffarpur. Krishnaiah was killed by a mob allegedly provoked by Anand Mohan Singh. He was dragged out of his official car and lynched.
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. (ANI)
