Supreme Court to hear on May 8 plea challenging Anand Mohan’s premature release

She contended that the sentence meant incarceration for his entire natural course of life and could not be mechanically interpreted to mean only 14 years. “Life imprisonment, when awarded as a substitute for death penalty, has to be carried out strictly as directed by the court and would be beyond application of remission,” the plea said.

The remission of his sentence followed an April 10 amendment to the Bihar Prison Manual, 2012, removing a clause that said those convicted for murder of a public servant on duty could not be given remission of their jail term.

Bihar’s remission policy exempted persons convicted for the murder of public servants. However, the bar was taken away by the Nitish Kumar government by way of an amendment to the rules in April this year. Uma Krishnaiah’s plea also challenged the amendment.

Anand Mohan Singh was released from jail in Bihar’s Saharsa last Thursday. He was convicted for inciting a mob that was leading a protest march in Vaishali against the killing of muscleman Chhotan Shukla. G Krishnaiah happened to cross the protest march route and was lynched by the mob.