Madhumita Shukla Murder: SC dismisses Amarmani Tripathi’s challenged premature release

The former minister of Amarmani Tripathi in Uttar Pradesh has been charged with the murder of Madhumita Shukla. File | Image source: PTI

The Supreme Court dismissed a plea on Tuesday (25 March 2025), challenging the premature release of former Uttar Pradesh minister Amarmani Tripathi and his wife Madhumani in the murder of poet Madhumita Shukla.

Uttar Pradesh Prison Department issued a premature birth order in 2023 to submit a third-quarter order, citing the state’s 2018 mitigation policy as they have completed 16 years in prison.

Justices Bela M. Trivedi and PB Varale’s judges demanded that the poet’s sister Nidhi Shukla approach the relevant High Court.

The bench said: “What basic rights were violated. Sorry.” The Supreme Court also refused to provide protection to the petitioner and asked her to sign with the trial court.

The official cited the order that the prison ministry also cites the age and good behavior of the offenders because Amarmani is 66 and Madhumani is 61.

The pregnant poet Madhumita was shot dead in a paper mill colony in Lucknow on May 9, 2003. Amarmani Tripathi was arrested in September 2003, allegedly related to the murder of a poet with whom he was in a romantic relationship.

Dehradun Court sentenced Amarmani and his wife to life imprisonment for murder in October 2007. Later, the Nainital High Court and the Supreme Court upheld the couple’s verdict. The case was detected by the CBI.