Mayawati opposes release of murder convict Anand Mohan, calls Nitish anti-Dalit

She said that the sentiments of Dalit people across the country had been badly hurt. Terming it a pro-crime and anti-Dalit work of Nitish Kumar, Mayawati asked the Bihar government to reconsider its decision

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has strongly criticised the Bihar government’s move for the premature release of incarcerated leader Anand Mohan Singh.

BSP supremo Mayawati (Twitter/@Mayawati)

Bihar People’s Party leader and ex-MP Anand Mohan (69), was convicted in the 1994 murder of Gopalganj District Magistrate G Krishnaiah. However, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has recently made changes to the prison manual to facilitate Anand Mohan’s release.

Reacting to this on Sunday, Mayawati strongly criticised the state government’s move and termed it anti-Dalit.

“Bihar’s Nitish government’s preparation to change the rule to free Anand Mohan in the case of the merciless murder of a very honest IAS officer from a poor Dalit community of Mahbubnagar, Andra Pradesh (now Telangana) is quite in discussions among a lot of Dalit people across the country for anti-Dalit negative reasons,” she wrote on Twitter.

She said that the sentiments of Dalit people across the country had been badly hurt. Terming it a pro-crime and anti-Dalit work of Nitish Kumar, Mayawati asked the Bihar government to reconsider its decision.

“Anand Mohan has been the compulsion of many governments in Bihar, but the anti-Dalit and pro-crime work of the Nitish government regarding the murder case of the then DM Shri Krishnaiah of Gopalganj has created a lot of fury in the Dalit society across the country. Even if there is some compulsion, but Bihar government must reconsider it,” Mayawati further wrote.

Anand Mohan is currently out on parole to attend the engagement of his eldest son and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MLA Chetan Anand and this is the third time in the last six months that he has been allowed to come out on parole.

On April 10, the Bihar government dropped “murder of a public servant on duty” as one of the cases in which an accused would not be eligible for premature release.

The government notified an amendment to the Bihar Prison Manual and deleted the clause which specified that “those killing government officials were not entitled to release”.

As per Rule 481(i)(a) of the jail manual: “Every convicted prisoner, whether male or female, undergoing sentence of life imprisonment and covered by the provisions of Section 433A CrPC, shall be eligible to be considered for premature release from prison immediately after serving out the sentence of 14 years of actual imprisonment, i.e., without the remissions”.

State BSP spokesperson Om Prakash Pandey Munna also criticised the move and slammed the grand alliance government in Bihar. He said the anti-Dalit face of mahagathbandhan and its leaders Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav had been exposed.

He added that the BSP would protest the Bihar government’s move of releasing Anand Mohan. “We will hit the streets and go to every doorstep to extend the fight for justice to slain DM Krishnaiah and his family,” said Pandey.