Lucknow: Former Uttar Pradesh minister Amarmani Tripathi and his wife, serving life sentence for the murder of poetess Madhumita Shukla, have been released. The Uttar Pradesh government issued this order on Thursday. His wife Madhumani will also come out of jail as the government has also waived her sentence. According to officials, both have served more than 20 years in jail. His release was ordered in view of his ‘good behaviour’ as well as ‘maintaining peace’ inside the prison.
Former state minister Amarmani Tripathi and his wife Madhumani were convicted of plotting and killing poet Madhumita Shukla in 2003 . He was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Dehradun court in 2007. According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the investigation revealed that both Amarmani Tripathi and Madhumita Shukla had illicit relations. During this, the poetess had thought of giving birth to a child with him. Ex-minister Tripathi pressurized to abort the child.
Who is Amarmani Tripathi?
Amarmani Tripathi’s name was already prominent in the world of crime of Purvanchal region, an area notorious for its criminal activities. He managed to climb the political ladder and became a gangster-turned-politician in Uttar Pradesh. He was a minister in the Mayawati-led government in 2002-03. Later he switched to Samajwadi Party. Amarmani Tripathi was a four-time MLA and contested assembly elections from jail on SP ticket in 2007. Tripathi started his political career with the Communist Party of India. Later joined Congress. He was also a minister in Kalyan Singh government in 1997, Ram Prakash Gupta government in 1999, Rajnath Singh government in 2000.
Amarmani was found guilty under these sections
Using the powers under Article-161 of the Constitution of India, the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, detained convict Amarmani Tripathi (prisoner number-31/12) son of Mr. Narayan Tripathi, resident-195 Humagpur Dakshini, Mana Kotwali, from District Jail, Gorakhpur , District-Gorakhpur,-Former minister Amarmani Tripathi was sentenced to life imprisonment on October 24, 2007 by the Special Judge Sessions Judge, Dehradun, under sections 302, 120B, 342, 306 of the Indian Penal Code in Case No. 411/2005. Amarmani Tripathi appealed to the High Court of Uttarakhand against the decision of Special Judge Sessions Judge, Dehradun. The High Court of Uttarakhand on 16 July 2012 upheld the sentence of life imprisonment given by the Special Judge Sessions Judge, Dehradun. After the High Court, the former minister took refuge in the Supreme Court. The country’s biggest court also did not give any relief in the judgment given on 04 January 2013 and 31 July and kept the punishment unchanged.
This decision of the Supreme Court got the release
The Supreme Court passed an order on May 13, 2022 while hearing Writ Petition-135/2022 Radheshyam Bhagwan Das Sah alias Lala Vakil vs. State of Gujarat and others. In this petition, the Supreme Court had propounded a principle regarding the release of a convicted person. Based on this, Amarmani Tripathi filed Writ Petition 445/2022 in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court passed the order on 10 February 2023 in Amarmani Tripathi vs. State of UP. In the contempt case (-1079/2023 Amarmani Tripathi vs. Sanjay Prasad and others), the Supreme Court passed an order on 18 August 2023. In the light of the guidelines of the Supreme Court regarding the release, the Governor has issued the order for the release of the former minister.
became the basis for the release
In view of the prisoner being 66 years of age and serving 17 years 109 months 04 days avoidable sentence and 20 years 01 month 19 days avoidable sentence till 22nd November 2020, the rest of the sentence has been ordered to be waived. Amarmani and his wife will be released after filling surety and bond with DM, even though the sentence has been waived, but they will come out of jail only when the District Magistrate, Gorakhpur will present two sureties and a single bond of the same amount. . Only after this the prisoner will be freed from the jail.
DM will get release after filling bail and bond
Even though the sentence of Amarmani and his wife has been waived, but they will come out of jail only when they submit two sureties and one surety bond of the same amount to the District Magistrate, Gorakhpur. Only after this the prisoner will be freed from the jail.
what is the power of forgiveness
President – The governor has the power to pardon or commute the sentence. Under Article 72 of the Constitution, the President shall have the power to pardon, remit, remit or remit or suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of an offense where the punishment is death It is in the form of punishment. The President cannot exercise his power of pardon independently of the government. In many cases, the Supreme Court has ruled that the President has to act on the advice of the Council of Ministers while deciding on mercy petitions. These include Maru Ram vs Union of India in 1980 and Dhananjay Chatterjee vs State of West Bengal in 1994.
President’s power of reconsideration
The President is bound to seek the advice of the cabinet for pardoning punishment etc. But Article 74 (1) empowers the President to return the advice of the Council of Ministers once for reconsideration. If the Council of Ministers re-sends the advice given earlier without any changes, then the President has no option but to accept it.
Pardoning power of the Governor:
Article 161 The Governor of a State shall have power to pardon, remit, remit or remit or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offense against any law relating to such matter .
Difference between pardoning powers of President and Governor
The amnesty power of the President under Article 72 is wider than the pardoning power of the Governor under Article 161. So there are two big differences. Under the court martial, the President can pardon the punishment of the convicted person, but Article 161 does not provide any such power to the Governor to forgive. Another major difference is with regard to the death penalty. The President can grant pardon even in cases of death sentence. The pardoning power of the Governor becomes silent in cases of death sentence. That is, the governor can forgive the sentence of life imprisonment, but if someone has been sentenced to death, then he cannot be pardoned.
It is also important for you to know
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Pardon: It involves release from both sentence and conviction.
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Commutation of sentence: It involves reducing the punishment by changing its nature, for example, by changing death sentence to life imprisonment and rigorous imprisonment to simple imprisonment.
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Remission: This involves changing the nature of the punishment, for example, changing two years’ imprisonment to one year’s imprisonment.
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Remission: Under this, the provision of the original sentence received by a convict is changed in certain circumstances. For example commuting the sentence due to the period of pregnancy of the woman.
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Postponement: This includes bringing forward the commencement of a sentence or temporarily staying a sentence pending a pardon or commutation proceeding.