New Delhi: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for kicking up a storm over the release of former MP Anand Mohan, who was serving life term for the murder of an IAS officer.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of an event in Patna on Friday, Nitish Kumar asserted that the controversial amendment to the Bihar Prison Manual that paved the way for the release of Anand Mohan was in accordance with the model jail manual brought by the Centre in 2016.
On Anand Mohan's release, the Bihar CM said, “He was in jail for 15 years…he was served his sentence, and now it's done. I am surprised. When this was not in place, several people used to demand it. Now when it is in place, they are opposing.”
It is to be noted that the Bihar government on April 24 notified about the release of 27 prisoners, including former MP Anand Mohan Singh.
This came days after the Bihar government amended the Prison Manual, 2012, which stated that anyone found guilty of killing a government official will not be given the benefit of remission ever.
“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 an actual sentence of 14 years or sentence of 20 years with remission,” the notification said.
The senior JD(U) leader also lashed out at the opposition party for launching a vitriolic attack on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over expenses incurred for renovation of the latter’s house.
The Bihar chief minister, who met his Delhi counterpart more than once as part of his opposition unity outreach, said that he has known the AAP leader "since before he entered politics", and suggested that the attacks showed his adversaries' inability to stomach "his electoral success in Delhi, replicated elsewhere later".