Supreme Court.
Credit: PTI Photo
The Supreme Court on Friday declined to stay the release of former Uttar Pradesh minister Amarmani Tripathi, sentenced to life imprisonment after being held guilty of the sensational 2003 murder of poetess Madhumita Shukla.
A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi issued notice to the state government on a plea filed by sister of the deceased Nidhi Shukla and sought its reply within eight weeks.
The court said it would not interfere with the release of Tripathi and his wife for now, saying if it were to agree with the petitioner’s contention then it could send them back to the prison.
Nidhi, sister of Madhumita Shukla, had moved the apex court against the release of Tripathi and his wife, who have been serving a life term since 2007.
The Uttar Pradesh had earlier said they will be freed on the basis of 'good conduct' in prison.
Madhumita, a 24-year-old fiery poetess and alleged lover of Tripathi was murdered on May 9, 2003 and her body was found at her home in Lucknow's Nishatganj area.
Tripathi, then a minister in Mayawati's government, was seen as the Bahujan Samaj Party boss' right-hand man and had initially claimed he had nothing to do with the cold blooded murder.
However, a DNA test by the CBI indicated that the child, the deceased was carrying when she was shot dead, was Tripathi’s.
The Supreme Court had subsequently transferred the case from Lucknow to Dehradun after Shukla's family feared Tripathi may interfere with the judicial process.