Joy was back on the faces of Chandrakeshwar Prasad and Asha Ranjan after the Supreme Court ordered jailed mafia-turned-politician Mohammad Shahabuddin's transfer from Siwan district jail to Tihar Central Jail to ensure fair trial.

Three of Chandrakeshwar's sons and Asha Ranjan's husband were allegedly killed at Shahabuddin's behest.

Siwan resident Chandrakeshwar, 68, better known as Chandababu, had petitioned the Supreme Court, seeking immediate shift of former RJD MP Shahabuddin to Tihar Central Jail to ensure justice to the family.

The apex court on Wednesday ordered the Bihar government to transfer Shahabuddin to Tihar Central Jail within a week.

"I had been waiting for the court order since morning," Chandrababu told The Telegraph over phone on Wednesday. "My lawyer in Delhi informed me about the court order over phone. The order has rekindled hope that justice will be done to us. We had full confidence in the judiciary."

The family celebrated the court order by exchanging pleasantries in their one-room house in Siwan, around 145km northwest of Patna.

"Now we can live in Siwan without fear. My wife Kalawati and our differently abled son Nitish joined me in celebrating the occasion," Chandababu said.

The family has heaved a sigh of relief after a decade and a half. "We now hope Siwan will be free from Shahabuddin's terror," he said, adding that the family was virtually under "house arrest" because of the threat from Shahabuddin.

"We can't move about town because of the terror unleashed by Shahabuddin and his goons. The police deployed as security guards never allow us to go outside the house."

"I will feel elated only when he (Shahabuddin) is hanged to death," said Chandababu's wife Kalawati.

In August 2004, Chandababu's two sons - Girish Raj and Satish Raj - were kidnapped and subsequently taken to Shahabuddin's native village, Pratappur, where they were bathed in acid, leading to their death. His third son Rajeev, who was a witness to his two brothers' murder, was murdered in Siwan in June 2014.

Hailing the Supreme Court order, Asha Ranjan, wife of slain journalist Rajdev Ranjan, said Shahabuddin's transfer from Siwan would instill confidence among residents, who were living under constant fear.

Describing the don's shift to Tihar as her first victory, Asha, a teacher at a government middle school in Siwan, said: " I had lost hope after my husband's murder. But today's Supreme Court order has enthused me to fight for justice."

Rajdev Ranjan, the Siwan bureau chief of Hindi newspaper Hindustan, was killed on May 13 last year while returning home from his office in Siwan. Asha had also appealed to the Supreme Court to shift Shahabuddin from Siwan.

Security has been stepped up at Chandababu's house in the wake of the Supreme Court order. "We have deployed a section of armed forces at Chandababu's house as a precautionary measure," Siwan superintendent of police Saurabh Kumar Sah said.

On the other hand, the SC order has come as a bolt from the blue for Shahabuddin's supporters. "He will be in trouble after being shifted to Tihar jail where he will be treated as a common prisoner," said a die-hard supporter of Shahabuddin, who is serving life term in a double murder case.