The Supreme Court on Friday held that the executive cannot deny pardon merely on the ground that the heinous crime paves the way for early release of the life convict, 22 years after he was imprisoned in the 2003 Madhumita Shukla murder case in Uttar Pradesh.
Convict Rohit Chaturvedi had appealed the Home Ministry’s July 9, 2025 decision rejecting his pardon application. He alleged that former UP legislator Amarmani Tripathi, his co-accused, was allowed early release 17 years early from his prison sentence while in custody despite the Uttarakhand government’s preference to seek pardon for him. Since the case was investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the case was tried in Uttarakhand, the MHA’s response was sought. Since the July 2025 order failed to provide reasons, the Center argued before the Supreme Court that the petitioner could not be released as the crime was heinous.
Disregarding the MHA order, a bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said: “We wish to make it clear that in a constitutional polity governed by the rule of law, denial of pardon cannot be based on the heinousness of the crime alone.”
The court listed four reasons for taking a view contrary to the Centre’s view – the prisoner’s good behavior in prison, 22 years of imprisonment, granting pardon to the other accused, and the reformist theory behind the criminal justice system.
Since the court had granted interim bail to the petitioner in August 2025, the court directed the authorities to treat him as if he had been released prematurely as per the court order.
Madmita Shukla, a poet who allegedly had an affair with a former Union Party MP, was shot dead outside her home in May 2003, when she was seven months pregnant.
