The Supreme Court on Friday refused to interfere with the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to prematurely release former minister Amarmani Tripathi and his wife Madhumani, serving a life term for the murder of poet Madhumita Shukla in 2003.

Nidhi Shukla, the younger sister of Madhumita who has been at the forefront of the legal battle against the Tripathis, said the apex court had declined to overturn the order for premature release. The bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M. Trivedi issued notice to the Tripathis and the Uttar Pradesh government seeking their replies within eight weeks on Nidhi’s earlier plea against the prolonged hospital stay of the convicts.

“The government should have respected my 20-year battle for justice. The criminal and his wife were never lodged in jail. They always stayed in hospitals. There is no point in allowing their release. During Friday’s hearing, I appealed to the Supreme Court against the possibility of their release, but didn’t get any respite,” Nidhi said.

After the Uttar Pradesh prisons administration department issued the order for their premature release, governor Anandiben Patel late on Thursday night signed the couple’s mercy petition on the grounds of their age, health and good conduct in prison.

The prisons department cited the remission policy Uttar Pradesh introduced in 2018 and a Supreme Court verdict that holds that lifers above 60 are eligible for remission of their remaining sentence if they have served 16 years in jail. Amarmani is 66 and Madhumani 61.

Nidhi said Amarmani and his wife spent most of their sentence “in different hospitals in the name of treatment between 2012 and 2023”. The couple have been at BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur, for several months.

Nidhi said on Friday: “I am shocked to hear the news of the release of Amarmani and his wife. They are living in rooms 15 and 16 of BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur, instead of jail. A court in Dehradun had handed them the life term and ordered the authorities to lodge them in Haridwar jail. But they mostly lived in hospitals across Uttar Pradesh.”

“I am sure the governor was misled as she wouldn’t have signed their mercy petition if she had known the entire truth. I had been writing letters to the government to request them not to release the killers of my sister at any cost,” Nidhi added.

Vijay Shukla, elder brother of Madhumita, told reporters in Lakhimpur Kheri, his hometown: “Our struggle for so many years has gone waste. It was a tough battle in which the crook won and truth was ultimately defeated. Amarmani and his wife spent over 62 per cent of their time of imprisonment in hospitals. They made a mockery of the law, and we can see now who all are with these people. Amarmani continued to run his gang even after conviction and they are releasing him for good conduct.”

Krishna Karunesh, the district magistrate of Gorakhpur, told reporters that Amarmani and his wife would be released from judicial custody in keeping with the orders of the governor.

Another official in the DM’s office told reporters on the condition of anonymity: “We have received the governor’s order. Five bonds of Rs 5 lakh each are being furnished by Tripathi’s family members. We have deployed a police force at BRD Medical College, where Amarmani and Madhumani are under treatment. Some formalities will have to be completed by officials at Gorakhpur district jail. The couple will be escorted from the hospital to their home in Durgabadi or to some other place, as they wish.”