If the JDU-RJD government in Bihar has its way, the criminal-turned-politician Anand Mohan may soon walk out of jail after serving 15 years. Anand Mohan Singh is serving a life sentence for his role in the murder of Dalit IAS officer G. Krishnaiah, who was the District Magistrate of Gopalganj at the time of his brutal murder. BSP Chief Mayawati strongly criticized the planned release of this gangster, whose son Chetan Anand is an MLA from RJD. In response to the news of this planned release via amendments to the Bihar Prison Manual, Mayawati tweeted, "The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar's plan to release Anand Mohan, responsible for the brutal killing of a very honest IAS officer, G. Krishanaih, who belonged to a very poor Dalit family by tweaking the rules, is in the news for the wrong reasons." She further added that the Bihar government should reconsider this decision in spite of any political expediencies.

The lynching

The lynching of G. Krishnaiah, the District Magistrate of Gopalganj, is an infamous symbol of the Jungle Raj that characterized the Lalu Yadav era in Bihar. On December 5, 1994, Krishnaiah was returning from Muzaffarnagar to Gopalganj when he encountered the procession of slain gangster Chottan Shukla, who had been shot a day earlier near Sundar Cinema of Muzaffarnagar. Anand Mohan, then the chief of Bihar's now-defunct People's Party and a political ally of Shukla, was among those present. As soon as Mohan noticed the blue beacon atop Krishnaiah's car, he ordered his aide Bhutkan to seek revenge for Chutkan's death. The mob turned violent, pulled Krishaniah out of his car, and brutally beat him. At Anand Mohan's instigation, Bhutkan Shukla allegedly shot the DM point blank range.

G. Krishanaiah, The inspiring journey that was cut short

The story of G. Krishnaiah, the DM of Gopalganj who was brutally murdered, is deeply heart-wrenching. A member of the 1985 batch of IAS officers, Krishnaiah hailed from an impoverished Dalit family - one of the few to receive an education beyond the fourth grade in his village. He continued his studies mainly due to scholarships awarded to him given his brilliant academic record, ultimately completing his schooling in BSc and an MA in English Literature from Osmania University in Hyderabad before qualifying as an IAS officer. For many, Krishnaiah's story is that of a typical Dalit in India, where his mother supported the family by working as an agricultural labourer, and his siblings and cousins still work as daily wage labourers. Unfortunately, many also believe that his Dalit identity facilitated the impunity of his killers. As Santosh Kumar Rajak, a Dalit student from Bihar, laments - "It is unprecedented in Indian history that a mob murdered a sitting DM; this could only have happened because the officer in authority is a Dalit."

Anand Mohan: A glimpse into the chequered past

Anand Mohan, a criminal who entered the world of politics in the year 1990, when he won the election from Saharasa, his home town. In 1994, the same year as that of Krishnaih murder case, he managed to get his wife elected as an MP from the Vaishali Loksabha. Anand Mohan won the 1996 Loksabha election from Samta party.

The conviction: Death Sentence commuted to lifer

After an almost 13-year-long trial, Anand Mohan was convicted, and he was also handed the capital punishment - a first for a politician of his stature. Others who received capital punishment in the same case were Akhlaq Ahmed, a former RJD MLA, and Arun Kumar. Anand's wife was also convicted in the case and received a life term. Others who were sentenced to life were Vikas Kumar Shukla, also known as Munna Shukla (a then sitting MLA), Shashi Shekhar, and Harendra Kumar.

The Court in 2007 held all the seven accused guilty under IPC 302 ( Murder) 307 (Attempt to Murder) 147 (rioting) 427 (mischief causing damage)

SC upholds the High Court verdict

In response to the news, Uma Krishnaiah, the widow of G. Krishnaiah, stated to the media in 2012, "I cannot say whether justice was served for me and my family. We would have been happier if the killers had been sentenced to death. Life imprisonment, especially after nearly 18 years, is not the right punishment for them."

Concession for specific category of criminals

On April 10 of this year, the Bihar government released a notice that strategically makes a selective concession for a specific category of criminals. The notice states that one category will be removed from among the categories of convicted criminals for whom premature release is not allowed. This category pertains to criminals convicted of the "murder of a public servant on duty." This effectively changes rule 484(I) of the Bihar Prison Manual, 2012.

This "exemption" has been tailor-made to facilitate the release of a dreaded don. Before this, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar assured the crowd during the Maharana Pratap Jayanti that the former MP, whose son Chetan Anand is the RJD MLA, would be released.

Religious & caste biasedness?

While mafias belonging to upper castes manage to come out of jail quickly, those belonging to Muslims and lower castes spend a considerably longer time inside prison. Any attempt directed at their release faces heavy resistance.

Mohammad Shahabuddin, the late criminal turned politician, had been an MP from Siwan Loksabha of Bihar, but that did not prevent him from spending a large period of his life in prison. He was imprisoned since 2005. In 2016, he was released after he was granted bail by the court. But his release was vehemently opposed by people across the political spectrum. Senior Advocate Prashant Bhushan challenged his bail in the Supreme Court, tweeting, "Shameful that HC granted bail to notorious Gangster/politico (RJD) Shahabuddin. Hv agreed to seek cancellation of Bail in SC on victim’s behalf,” arguing that "Giving bail to such a notorious criminal is a danger to society, and as soon as I will get case papers, I will move to Supreme Court." The Supreme Court cancelled his bail on September 30, just 20 days after he received bail from the high court.

On May 1, 2021, when he died at the Deendayal Hospital in Delhi due to Covid-related complications, he was serving a life sentence in Tihar Jail and had spent 16 years in prison.

Mukhtar Ansari: Ansari is a five-time MLA from the Ghazipur area of Uttar Pradesh. He was arrested in 2005, and since then, he has been in prison in UP and Punjab. He could not escape prison even after joining the Bahujan Samaj Party in 2007, which formed the government that year. Despite this, Ansari managed to win from the Ghazipur constituency. In 2019, he was shifted to Rooppur Jail in Punjab in a case related to extortion.

R.S. Praveen, state president of BSP and former IPS officer, joined Mayawati in attacking the Bihar government, saying, "Nitish Kumar left all scruples for petty political gains by changing prison rules to release Anand Mohan, who brutally killed a Dalit IAS Officer G Krishnaiah (85 Batch) from Telangana in Bihar in 1994." He tweeted this on Monday.