Observing that reformation should be the focus of the State and not retribution, the Supreme Court on Friday allowed a plea seeking premature release of one of the convicts in the 2003 murder case of 26-year-old poet Madhumita Shukla.

A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan set aside the order of the Ministry of Home Affairs dated July 9, 2025, rejecting the Uttarakhand government's recommendation for premature release of convict Rohit Chaturvedi.

The top court noted that Chaturvedi has spent 22 years in jail without remission.

"Crime is one thing, reformation is different. The focus of the State should be reformation, not retribution," the bench observed.

The apex court noted that Chaturvedi is already out on bail and need not surrender.

Shukla was shot dead on May 9, 2003, in Lucknow's Paper Mill Colony while she was pregnant. Former Uttar Pradesh minister Amarmani Tripathi was arrested in September 2003 in connection with the killing of the poet, with whom he was allegedly in a relationship.

Subsequently, other accused were also arrested in connection with a conspiracy to kill Shukla.

On October 24, 2007, a trial court in Uttarakhand convicted Amarmani Tripathi, his wife Madhumani Tripathi, his nephew Rohit Chaturvedi and his associate Santosh Kumar Rai for Shukla's murder and sentenced them to life imprisonment.

Amarmani Tripathi, who was the MLA from Nautanwa, was a minister in the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh in 2001 and also in the BSP government formed in 2002. He was also associated with the Samajwadi Party.

On June 17, 2003, the probe was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The trial was shifted from Uttar Pradesh to Uttarakhand by the Supreme Court on February 8, 2007.

On July 16, 2012, the Uttarakhand High Court upheld their conviction and sentence. The order was upheld by the apex court on November 19, 2013.

On August 24, 2023, the Uttar Pradesh prisons department issued an order for the premature release of Amarmani Tripathi and his wife Madhumani Tripathi, citing the state's 2018 policy on remission and also the fact that they had completed 16 years of their sentences.

Chaturvedi, who was convicted of criminal conspiracy and murder, had applied for premature release to the Uttarakhand government.

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