The Bihar government today notified the release of 27 prisoners, days after amending the Bihar Prison Manual that triggered a massive opposition backlash. Among those who will be released is former MP Anand Mohan Singh who was convicted in the 1994 murder of bureaucrat G Krishnaiah.
G Krishnaiah, then Gopalganj District Magistrate, was killed by a mob allegedly provoked by Anand Mohan Singh. The gangster-turned-politician was sentenced to death in 2007 by a lower court in Bihar. The Patna High Court, however, commuted it to life imprisonment; that order was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2012.
Earlier this month, the Bihar government had removed the clause which had forbidden the remission of jail term for those convicted of murdering a public servant on duty.
In its notification, the state's law department said that the new rules were for prisoners who have served the actual sentence of 14 years or a sentence of 20 years with remission.
"In light of the Bihar state sentence remission council meeting on April 20, the decision was taken for the release of prisoners having served actual sentence of 14 years or sentence of 20 years with remission," the notification said.
The change in rules and Anand Mohan Singh's release has stirred up huge controversy, with Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) terming the change in rules as "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," Ms Mayawati tweeted on Sunday.
She asked the Nitish Kumar government to reconsider the decision, saying that Anand Mohan Singh's release would anger the Dalit community.
BJP's IT Cell head Amit Malviya also hit out at Nitish Kumar. "Can someone who is leaning on a criminal syndicate, to hold on to power, be the face of India, even as opposition leader?” Mr Malviya tweeted on Monday.
The ruling Janata Dal (United) hit back at the BJP, with a "B-team in UP" jibe also at Mayawati. In a tweet, JDU leader Rajiv Ranjan Singh said that the change in rules was aimed at getting the common man and special prisoners on a uniform platform.
The change in the Bihar prison manual benefits Anand Mohan Singh, a Rajput leader with considerable influence on his caste voters.
For the last two years, several politicians from the Rajput community have been demanding Singh's early release. Even Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has on multiple occasions hinted that he "stands by his former colleague".
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