The IAS batchmates of G. Krishnaiah, the former district magistrate of Gopalganj in Bihar who was murdered by a mob led by gangster-turned-politician Anand Mohan Singh in 1994, are exploring legal options to challenge a Bihar government order that would allow the life convict walk out of jail soon.
Krishnaiah was a 1985 batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre. He was pulled out of his official vehicle and killed by a mob. Belonging to a landless Dalit family from Mahabubnagar in Telangana, he fought all odds to clear the coveted Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination.
One of the retired IAS officers said they were planning to file a petition in the Supreme Court against Bihar government’s order that would pave the way for Mohan’s release from jail. “We are in touch with his wife Uma Krishnaiah. We will firm up the legal plan soon,” the official said.
On April 10, the State government amended the Bihar Prison Manual, 2012 and removed the “murder of a public servant on duty” clause from the list of cases for which remission of jail term cannot be considered. On April 24, the Bihar government issued the notification to release 27 prisoners including Mohan, currently serving life sentence for the murder of Krishnaiah.
The Indian Civil and Administrative (Central) Association, New Delhi, a body of IAS officers that remains silent on most issues, on Tuesday issued a statement opposing the move. “A convict of a charge of murder of a public servant on duty, cannot be reclassified to a less heinous category. Amendment of an existing classification which leads to the release of the convicted killer of a public servant on duty is tantamount to denial of justice,” the association said on Twitter.
Bihar is presently ruled by the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) comprising Janata Dal (Secular), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress and other smaller parties. The BJP is the principal Opposition party in the State.
Sanjeev Gupta, a retired IAS officer of Krishnaiah’s batch said Supreme Court must revisit its 2010 ruling that has enabled early remission of convicts in the Bilkis Bano and Krishnaiah cases.
“The judgement by the Supreme Court in the Haryana vs Jagdish case in 2010 implies that past or current remission policy, whichever is more favourable to the convict, should apply. So killers in Bilkis Bano case were released based on a 1992 policy. SC must revisit this ruling lest the States would run riot to release convicts based on political considerations by tweaking remission policies,” Mr. Gupta said.
Several bureaucrats took to Twitter to express their anguish. “Sometimes one wonders if being a #civilservant is worth it. Request the #SC and #CJI to intervene. Solidarity with #Krishnaiah ji’s family,” said Smita Sabharwal, an IAS officer from Telangana cadre.
The IAS association of Andhra Pradesh said that it “stands by fellow Civil servants and the family members of Late G. Krishnaiah IAS and hope the Government of Bihar reconsiders this decision”.
Amit Kishore, a 2011 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre described the incident as “very unfortunate.”
P. Narahari, 2001 batch IAS officer “requested the Government of Bihar to reconsider this decision which is extremely erroneous and bad in law”.
