New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) The Supreme Court has fixed a timeline for the Uttarakhand government to consider the plea for remission of one of the convicts in the 2003 sensational murder case of 26-year-old poet Madhumita Shukla and warned that in case of delay, his bail plea will be examined.
Shukla was shot dead on May 9, 2003, in Lucknow's Paper Mill Colony while she was pregnant. Former Uttar Pradesh minister Amarmani Tripathi was arrested in September 2003 in connection with the killing of the poet with whom he was allegedly in a relationship.
Subsequently, other accused were also arrested in connection with a conspiracy to kill Shukla. The case was probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation and tried in Uttarakhand, where the convicts were sentenced to a life term.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan, which had earlier held that the appropriate state government to consider the case for remission of convict Rohit Chaturvedi was the Uttarakhand government, gave one week to the panel examining the case for premature release to place its recommendation before the state government.
"We direct that the recommendation of the state-level committee shall be placed before the state government within a maximum period of one week from today and within two weeks thereafter, the state government will take appropriate steps," it said.
The bench added that the Uttarakhand government shall forward its decision for concurrence of the central government within three days from which the state government takes the decision.
"The appropriate authority of the central government shall take appropriate decisions within one month from the receipt of recommendation of the state government," the bench said and listed the matter for further hearing on March 28 for reporting compliance with the order.
It clarified, "In the event, we find that the decision-making process is delayed on March 28, we will consider the prayer of the petitioner for grant of interim bail".
At the outset, senior advocate N Hariharan, appearing for Chaturvedi pointed out that the convict has been inside jail for more than 25 years and his case be considered for interim bail if the process is delayed.
On December 2, the top court said the May 13, 2022, decision of the apex court in the Bilkis Bano case, which said that the state in which the offence was committed will be the appropriate government for consideration of remission, has been rendered "no longer in law".
The top court said, "The decision of this court in the case of Radheshyam Bhagwandas Shah Alias Lala Vakil versus State of Gujarat & Anr. (2022 verdict) is no longer a good law.
"Therefore, the order dated December 15, 2023, passed by this court in the writ petition, which was based on the said decision, is recalled and the writ petition is restored to its original number," it said.
The Uttar Pradesh government, which was asked to consider the remission plea of Chaturvedi, had referred to earlier judgements of the apex court passed in the Bilkis Bano case on January 8, 2024, and May 13, 2022, and said that the competent authority in this case will be the Uttarakhand government.
It has been submitted that this court held on January 8, 2024, that the state in which the trial of a criminal case has taken place will be the competent authority to deal with the premature release of convicts as per the state's policy.
The Uttar Pradesh government sought the recall of the December 15, 2023, order that has asked it to consider a premature release of Chaturvedi.
On January 8, 2024, the top court said the Gujarat government was not the appropriate authority to pass the remission order and clarified that the state in which an offender is tried and sentenced is competent to decide a remission plea of the convict. The convicts in the Bilkis Bano case were tried in Maharashtra.
On May 13, 2022, the top court asked the Gujarat government to consider the plea of convict Radheshyam Shah for a premature release in terms of its remission policy of July 9, 1992, holding that the government of the state where the offence had taken place has the jurisdiction to decide the application.
In the present case, on December 15, 2023, another bench of the apex court that was relying on the May 13, 2022, judgment, asked the Uttar Pradesh government to consider the remission plea of Chaturvedi, who was tried for murder in a court in Uttarakhand.
On October 24, 2007, a trial court in Uttarakhand convicted Amarmani Tripathi, his wife Madhumani Tripathi, nephew Rohit Chaturvedi and associate Santosh Kumar Rai for Shukla's murder and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
Amarmani Tripathi, who was elected from the Nautanwa constituency, was a minister in the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh in 2001 and also in the BSP government formed in 2002. He has also been associated with the Samajwadi Party.
On June 17, 2003, the probe was transferred to the CBI. The trial was shifted from Uttar Pradesh to Uttarakhand by the apex court Supreme Court on February 8, 2007.
On July 16, 2012, the Uttarakhand High Court upheld their conviction and sentence. The order was upheld by the apex court on November 19, 2013.
Chaturvedi, who was convicted of criminal conspiracy and murder, had applied for a premature release to the Uttarakhand government but his plea was rejected.
Thereafter, citing the first Bilkis Bano case judgement on remission (of May 13, 2022), he sought a direction from the apex court to the Uttar Pradesh government for his premature release.