Ex-UP Minister, Wife, On Life Term For Killing Poet, Freed After 16 Years

Former Uttar Pradesh Minister Amarmani Tripathi and his wife Madhumani, serving life sentences in poet Madhumita Shukla's murder, were released this evening before the completion of their terms.

The Uttar Pradesh Prisons Department on Thursday issued an order for their premature release, citing the state's 2018 policy on remission, since they have completed 16 years of their sentences.

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the release of the couple, who is currently admitted to Gorakhpur's BRD Medical College.

The Prisons Department cited the couple's old age and good behaviour. Amarmani is 66 and Madhumani 61, Gorakhpur district jailor AK Kushwaha said, adding that though the two have been released, they will continue to remain at the hospital.

Mr Tripathi's son Amanmani Tripathi told reporters that his parents were under doctors' supervision and based on their advice, further steps will be taken.

Amarmani Tripathi, who was elected from the Nautanva constituency, was a minister in the state's BJP government in 2001 and also in the BSP government in 2002. He has also been with the Samajwadi Party.

During the day, the Supreme Court also issued notices to the Uttar Pradesh government, Mr Tripathi and his wife, seeking their replies within eight weeks on a plea filed by the poet's sister Nidhi Shukla.

Nidhi Shukla, who had been at the forefront of this legal fight, earlier said she feared for her life and that of her family in case the two are released.

Poet Madhumita was pregnant when she was shot dead on May 9, 2003, in Lucknow's Paper Mill Colony. Amarmani Tripathi was arrested in September 2003 in connection with the murder of the poet with whom he was allegedly in a relationship.

In October 2007, a Dehradun court sentenced Amarmani Tripathi and his wife Madhumani Tripathi to life imprisonment for the murder. Later, the Uttarakhand High Court and the Supreme Court upheld the sentences. The case was probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

"I have been telling everyone that this is going to happen. I have procured the documents through an RTI which clearly states that 62 per cent of the jail term that the two are said to have served had been spent out of jail.

"I submitted documents to all responsible persons telling them that between 2012 and 2023 he was not in jail. The government documents, which I have got through the state information commission, after a long fight, bear this out," Nidhi Shukla told PTI earlier in the day.

She alleged that the Tripathis misled authorities to get a premature release.

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