Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Prisons administration has issued an order to release former minister Amarmani Tripathi and his wife Madhumani Tripathi, who were serving life sentence in the murder case of poetess Madhumita Shukla in the capital two decades ago, sources said. It is learnt that the order to release Tripathi couple was issued by the UP Prisones administration on Thursday following an approval by Governor Anandiben Patel.
Amarmani Tripathi and his wife Madhumani had applied for premature release, since both are above 60 years of age and have served 10 years of imprisonment with the application accepted by the government. Sources said that the Prison Administration and Reforms Department has issued two separate orders for their premature release.
The orders read that both Amarmani Tripathi, who is 66 years old and Madhumani Tripathi, who is 61 years old, have served 20 years of imprisonment. The orders cited a “good behaviour and maintenance of peace inside the jail” as the reason for their release. The couple has been asked to submit two sureties and a bond of equal amount.
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The Tripathi couple were lodged in Gorakhpur jail after they were sentenced to life by a court in Uttarakhand capital Dehradun in 2007 for the alleged murder of poetess Madhumani Tripathi. They were convicted along with three others in 2003. The murder dates back to May 9, 2003 when 7-month pregnant poetess Madhumita Shukla, living in Peppermill Colony of the Lucknow, was shot dead.
Amarmani Tripathi, his wife Madhumani Tripathi and nephew Rohit Mani Tripathi, a minister in the then BSP government, were named as accused in the case along with Pawan Pandey and Santosh Rai. The matter was first investigated by the police, then after a 20-day investigation by the CBCID, the government handed over the case to the CBI.
In its investigation, the CBI filed a charge sheet in the court which convicted both of them. Madhumita's sister approached the Supreme Court and appealed to transfer the case from Lucknow to Delhi or Tamil Nadu. The Supreme Court transferred the case to Uttarakhand in the year 2005. On October 24, 2007, the Dehradun Sessions Court sentenced all five convicts to life imprisonment, Amarmani Tripathi challenged the sentence in the Nainital High Court and the Supreme Court but the sentence was upheld by both.
Since then he was serving life sentence in Gorakhpur Jail. Meanwhile, Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice on the plea of deceased poetess Madhumita Shukla’s sister Nidhi Shukla against the premature release of the Tripathi couple. Speaking to the mediapersons inside the premises of the SC, Madhumita's sister Nidhi Shukla flayed the UP government for the move.
Nidhi appealed the UP Governor and CM to stop their release. She also claimed that RTI applications had stated that Amarmani Tripathi “actually never went to jail”. “He can do anything. What if he murders me, then no one will be left to advocate this case? What kind of law and order is there in UP?," Nidhi said. She said that Amarmani and his wife have spent “more than 60 percent of their time in the hospital outside the jail”.
Nidhi had also written a letter to the President Droupadi Murmu a day before the release orders in favour of the Tripathi couple were issued requesting the President not to give any relief to Amarmani and his wife.
