DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand High Court has cleared the way for the premature release of Santosh Kumar Rai, one of the shooters convicted in the 2003 murder of poet Madhumita Shukla.
The court’s Friday order also covers two other prisoners serving life sentences. Rai’s release will follow the state government’s approval, the governor’s assent and completion of the prescribed formalities, officials said.
Former Uttar Pradesh minister Amarmani Tripathi and his wife, Madhumani, who were sentenced to life imprisonment in the case, were released in August 2023.
A division bench of Justices Ravindra Maithani and Siddharth Sah heard a suo motu petition along with pleas filed by prisoners seeking premature release under the state’s remission policy. The court issued directions based on a revised list submitted by the state government. The release process will be completed once the relevant documents reach the prison authorities.
The case concerns prisoners who have served at least 14 years, with some having spent 20 to 25 years in jail. The petitioners argued that eligible prisoners should receive the benefit of the government policy after due legal process.
“A life sentence should not necessarily mean that a prisoner remains in jail for the rest of his life,” they submitted.
The state told the court that the committee considering premature release had met in July and September, and that eligible prisoners were being released in phases. The government has not provided an exact count of those released so far.
Rai was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2003 for his role in the murder. Madhumita Shukla, 24, was shot dead in her Lucknow apartment in Paper Mill Colony on May 9, 2003.
Seeking a fair trial, Shukla’s sister, Nidhi, approached the Supreme Court, which transferred the case to Uttarakhand in 2005. A special court in Dehradun sentenced Amarmani, Madhumani and three other accused to life imprisonment in October 2007. The verdict was later upheld by the Uttarakhand High Court and the Supreme Court.
