'Will Get Justice In SC': Slain IAS Officer's Wife After Notice To Bihar Govt Over Anand Mohan's Release

Uma Devi stated: "We are happy that Supreme Court has responded positively and issued notice to the Bihar govt and to other people who are involved in it. They have to reply within 2 weeks."

After Supreme Court sought Bihar government's response on a plea challenging premature release of ex-Lok Sabha MP Anand Mohan, Uma Devi, wife of  slain IAS officer G Krishnaiah, on Monday expressed her trust in the judiciary and stated that "will get justice in SC," news agency ANI reported. 

Speaking with ANI, Uma Devi stated: "We are happy that Supreme Court has responded positively and issued notice to the Bihar govt and to other people who are involved in it. They have to reply within 2 weeks."

Former MP Anand Mohan was serving a life sentence in the 1994 murder of then-Gopalganj District Magistrate G Krishnaiah.

On the petition, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and JK Maheshwari issued notices to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, the Bihar government, and Mohan, PTI reported.

At the outset, senior attorney Siddharth Luthra, who was representing Uma Krishnaiah, the officer's wife, said it was a terrible situation.

The bench stated that it will take action on the petition.

Earlier on May 1, the top court had agreed to hear the plea and set the date for May 8.

The petitioner argued that the gangster-turned-politician's life sentence meant incarceration for the rest of his natural life and could not be mechanically translated to endure only 14 years.

“Life imprisonment, when awarded as a substitute for death penalty, has to be carried out strictly as directed by the court and would be beyond application of remission,” Uma Devi stated in her petition before the Supreme Court, PTI reported.

Anand Mohan was set free from the Saharsa prison when the Nitish Kumar administration changed prison regulations to allow inmates who had served 14 or 20 years in prison to be released. The Bihar Home Department has announced a revision to rule 481 (1-a) of the Bihar Prison Manual, 2012, which removed the wording "or murder of a Government servant on duty."

Mohan was found guilty of the murder of then-Gopalganj district magistrate G Krishnaiah in Muzaffarpur on December 5, 1994. According to the investigation, the don-turned-politician provoked a crowd that dragged the IAS officer out of his car and lynched him.

(With Inputs From Agencies)