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Former BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh Uday Bhan Karwariya, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA, is set to be released prematurely for 'good conduct'.
The recommendation was made by Prayagraj SSP, the District Magistrate, and a mercy petition committee. Governor Anandiben Patel approved the mercy petition.
The Governor, using the powers conferred under Article 161 of the Indian Constitution, passed the order to release Karwariya after accepting the recommendation of premature release.
Article 161 empowers the governor of a state to grant pardons, reprieves, respites, or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit, or commute the sentence of any convict against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the state extends.
The July 19 order stated that Uday Bhan had spent eight years, nine months, and eleven days in jail as of July 30, 2023, and could be released if no other case was pending against him.
On November 4, 2019, a court in Prayagraj had sentenced Uday Bhan (55), his brothers Suraj Bhan and Kapil Muni, and their uncle Ram Chandra, to life imprisonment for murdering a member of Samajwadi Party Jawahar Yadav. Earlier, in 2018, the same court had rejected the state government’s plea to withdraw the murder case.
In 1996 a group of people fired on SP MLA Jawahar Yadav's vehicle with AK-47 rifles in Prayagraj’s Civil Lines area killing him and two others, including his driver Gulab Yadav.
Investigation revealed that the murder was the due to political and business rivalry.
Despite these charges, Uday Bhan won the 2002 and 2007 Assembly elections, contesting on a BJP ticket from the Bara seat in Prayagraj.
Moreover, Bhan’s wife, Neelam Karwariya, contested and won the 2017 Assembly election from the Meja Assembly seat in Prayagraj on a BJP ticket as well.
Vijayma Yadav, Jawahar Yadav’s wife and a four-time MLA, said that she would go to court against the state government's decision.
“If this government releases the convicts of a triple murder case, then they should also release other convicts who are in jail. If the triple murder convicts are released after serving such a short term, what message does the government want to give? I never felt that he had served a life imprisonment in jail,” she said.
(With PTI inputs)