Sixty-year-old Uma Krishnaiah, the widow of Dalit IAS officer G Krishnaiah who was killed in Bihar three decades ago, has criticised the Nitish Kumar government for releasing former MP Anand Mohan Singh who was convicted for his murder. Anand Mohan was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of then Gopalganj District Magistrate Krishnaiah in 1994, by instigating a mob to lynch him. He has been in jail for 15 years. However, following an amendment to the Bihar Prison Manual, the state government has notified the release of 27 prisoners, including Anand Mohan.
Slamming Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for releasing Anand Mohan, Uma, who now lives in Telangana, said, “This keeps happening in Bihar. Nitish Kumar thinks that if [Anand] is released, [the Janata Dal (United)] will get Rajput votes and he will get to form the government. This is wrong.”
Uma, who was thirty years old when her husband was killed, also called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and ask the Bihar government to withdraw the decision. Before Anand’s release was announced, the Bihar government amended its prison rules so that those convicted of murdering public servants could be considered for premature release after serving only 14 years of imprisonment, instead of 20 years as required earlier. This paved the way for the release of 27 convicts including Anand.
Insisting that she didn’t want her husband’s murder convicts to be released early, Uma said she was discussing options for legal recourse with 1985 batch IAS officers who were Krishnaiah’s batchmates. “I do not want them to be released from jail. They should remain in prison for life,” Uma told Indian Express. The Indian Civil and Administrative Service (Central) Association has also issued a statement asking the Bihar government to reconsider its decision.
Uma, who moved to Hyderabad with her two daughters after her husband was killed, is a retired college lecturer. Recalling the struggle she and her daughters had to go through following her husband’s death 29 years ago, she said that no other family should face such a situation. She said that politicians must rise above their “selfishness," adding that caste politics should be shunned and caste-based vote banks must not be considered by the government while making such decisions. She asked if people could have faith in such politicians even if the move led to some electoral gains.“As Krishnaiah was an All India Services officer, the President and Prime Minister should intervene to see that the Bihar government's decision is revoked,” Uma said.