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{{Short description|Indian politician}}
{{distinguish|Anandpal Singh|Anand Mohan}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}}
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2015}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Anand Mohan Singh
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1954|1|28}}
| residence = [[Saharsa]]
| office =
| office1 = [[Member in Bihar Legislative Assembly]]
| constituency1 = [[Mahishi (Vidhan Sabha constituency)]]
| term1 =1990 to 1995
| predecessor1 = Lahtan Choudhary
| successor1 = Dr. Abdul Ghafoor
| office2 = [[Member of Parliament]], [[Lok Sabha]]
| constituency2 = [[Sheohar]]
| term2 =1996 to 1998 and
1998 to 1999
| predecessor2 = Harikishor Singh
| successor2 = Md. Anwarul Haque
| party =[[Samata Party]] 1996, [[Rashtriya Janata Party]] 1998, [[Bihar People's Party]],1993
| spouse = [[Lovely Anand]] Former Member of Parliament
| children = [[Chetan Anand Singh|Chetan Anand]] MLA from Sheohar, Bihar
Surbhi Anand, Anshuman Anand
}}
'''Anand Mohan Singh''' (born 28 January 1954) is a politician and was founder of the now-defunct [[Bihar People's Party]] (BPP). {{as of|2020|6}}, he is serving a [[life sentence]] for abetting murder; prior to reduction to this term on appeal, he had been the first politician in independent India to be given the death penalty. He comes from the village of Panchgachiya in [[Saharsa district]], [[Bihar]].

== Early life ==
Anand Mohan Singh comes from Pachgachhia village in [[Saharsa district]], [[Bihar]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.merinews.com/article/sc-upholds-life-term-conviction-of-former-mp-anand-mohan-singh/15872110.shtml |title=SC upholds life term conviction of former PM Anand Mohan Singh |first=Lalit |last=Kishore |work=Merinews |date=11 July 2012 |accessdate=2016-09-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116053910/http://www.merinews.com/article/sc-upholds-life-term-conviction-of-former-mp-anand-mohan-singh/15872110.shtml |archive-date=16 November 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He is the grandson of Ram Bahadur Singh, an Indian [[freedom fighter]]. His introduction to politics came through involvement with the Sampoorna Kranti movement of [[Jayaprakash Narayan]],<ref name="outlook2007">{{cite news |url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article/pinned-lynch/235751 |work=Outlook |agency=PTI |title=Pinned Lynch |first=Smita |last=Gupta |date=15 October 2007 |accessdate=2015-06-07}}</ref> which caused him to drop out of college in 1974.<ref name="tehelka" />

== Imprisonment ==
Singh has had numerous charges filed against him at various times, many of which were either dropped or resulted in acquittal.<ref name="tehelka" /> He and six other people, including his wife [[Lovely Anand]], were accused in relation to the 1994 murder of a [[Dalit]] [[district magistrate]] from [[Gopalganj district, India|Gopalganj]], G. Krishnaiah, who was [[Lynching|lynched]] on a major highway near to [[Muzaffarpur]] during a funeral cortege for the BPP member and gangster, Chhotan Shukla. In 2007, the [[Patna High Court]] sentenced him to death for abetting the crime. The sentence was reduced to [[Penal labour|rigorous]] life imprisonment in 2008, when the six other accused were also acquitted due to lack of evidence. The reduction was because there was no evidence that Singh was the actual assailant. In 2012 Singh failed in his appeal to the [[Supreme Court of India]] against the reduced sentence. The same Supreme Court hearing dismissed an appeal from the [[Government of Bihar]] for reinstatement of the death penalty and for an overturning of the acquittal of the six other people.<ref>{{cite news |date=10 July 2012 |title=Supreme Court upholds life term for Bihar ex-MP |agency=PTI |work=The Hindu |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/supreme-court-upholds-life-term-for-bihar-exmp/article3623461.ece |accessdate=2015-06-07}}</ref><ref name="hindu2012">{{cite news |date=11 July 2012 |title=Supreme Court upholds life term for ex-MP in DM murder case |work=The Hindu |url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/supreme-court-upholds-life-term-for-exmp-in-dm-murder-case/article3625609.ece |accessdate=2015-06-07}}</ref>{{efn|Aside from Singh's wife, Lovely Anand, the other accused were former State Minister [[Akhlaq Ahmed (politician)|Akhlaq Ahmed]] and former MLA Arun Kumar, [[Vijay Kumar Shukla]] alias Munna Shukla, [[Shashi Shekhar]] and Harendra Kumar. The person adjudged to have shot Krishnaiah was Bhutkun Shukla.<ref name="hindu2012" />}}

At the time of the original sentence in 2007, Singh was the first Indian politician since [[independence of India|independence]] to have been given a death penalty.<ref name="tehelka">{{cite news |title=Law's Arm: 13 Years Long |first=Anand |last=St Das |work=Tehelka |url=http://archive.tehelka.com/story_main34.asp?filename=Ne201007LAW.asp |date=20 October 2007 |accessdate=2015-06-07 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610131126/http://archive.tehelka.com/story_main34.asp?filename=Ne201007LAW.asp |archivedate=2015-06-10}}</ref> Soon after that sentence, upon being transferred from [[Patna|Patna's]] Beur jail to that of [[Bhagalpur]], Singh went on hunger strike in protest of the facilities and being split from Akhlaq Ahmed and Arun Kumar, who had received death penalties in the same case. The jail authorities were unsympathetic, noting that rules dictated those sentenced to death should sleep on the floor and be allowed only simple food.<ref>{{cite news |title=Former MP facing death sentence goes on hunger strike |date=6 November 2007 |work=Rediff |url=http://www.rediff.com/news/report/bihar/20071106.htm |accessdate=2015-06-10}}</ref>

== Influence ==
Despite being in prison, Singh aided his wife, Lovely Anand, whom he had married in 1991, in standing as an INC candidate in the 2010 Bihar Assembly elections<ref name="tvnews">{{cite news |title=Jailed Bihar Dons Field Their Wives |date=7 October 2010 |url=http://www.indiatvnews.com/politics/national/jailed-bihar-dons-field-their-wives-2248.html |work=India TV News |accessdate=2015-06-10}}</ref> and as a [[Samajwadi Party]] candidate in the [[2014 Indian general election|2014 general elections]]. The Supreme Court had barred convicted criminals from standing in elections but he still has much influence.<ref name="tehelka" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Bihar's gangsters, their wives in the fray in Lok Sabha elections |date=28 April 2014 |first=Priyarag |last=Verma |work=IBN Live |url=http://www.ibnlive.com/news/politics/bihars-gangsters-their-wives-in-the-fray-in-lok-sabha-elections-684147.html |accessdate=2015-06-07}}</ref> She has claimed that her husband is the victim of a political conspiracy.<ref name="hindustam2010">{{cite news |work=Hindustan Times |title=The godmothers of Bihar |first=Praveen |last=Donthi |date=24 November 2010 |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/the-godmothers-of-bihar/article1-617030.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140314024642/http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/the-godmothers-of-bihar/article1-617030.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 March 2014 |accessdate=2015-06-07}}</ref>

People from his home village of Panchgachiya consider him to be a Robin Hood figure.<ref name="rediff2012">{{cite news |title=DM's killer Anand Mohan is Robinhood for Bihar villagers |date=11 July 2012 |work=Rediff |url=http://www.rediff.com/news/report/dms-killer-anand-mohan-is-robinhood-for-bihar-villagers/20120711.htm |accessdate=2015-06-07}}</ref> ''[[Tehelka]]'' said in 2007 that {{quote|it was his muscleman image that made Mohan’s name synonymous with terror in Bihar’s poverty-ridden Saharsa-Supaul belt for the past 20 years. He and Munna Shukla faced several criminal cases, many of them for murder, in various courts across Bihar. While Shukla still remains a dreaded figure around Muzaffarpur and Vaishali districts in north Bihar, Mohan is notorious in the Saharsa-Supaul belt as a criminal and sometimes as a kind of folk hero.<ref name="tehelka" />}}

== Writings ==
He has written two anthologies of poems while imprisoned, ''Quaid mei Azad Kalam'' (''Pen is free behind bars'', 2011)<ref>{{cite news |work=The Telegraph |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120708/jsp/bihar/story_15703144.jsp#.VXflT6FVK1E |date=8 July 2012 |title=Masters in crime bask in doctoral glory from four walls of prison |author=Ramashankar |accessdate=2015-06-10}}</ref> and ''Swadheen Abhivyakti'' (2014). Gandhi kektas ke phool (2020)

== See also ==
*[[Caste politics in India]]
*[[Anant Kumar Singh]]
*[[Pradeep Mahto]]
*[[Ashok Mahto gang]]
*[[Jagdish Mahto]]

== References ==
'''Notes'''
{{notelist}}
'''Citations'''
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Anand Mohan}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Saharsa district]]
[[Category:11th Lok Sabha members]]
[[Category:12th Lok Sabha members]]
[[Category:Lok Sabha members from Bihar]]
[[Category:Members of the Bihar Legislative Assembly]]
[[Category:Janata Dal politicians]]
[[Category:Indian politicians convicted of crimes]]
[[Category:Gang members]]
[[Category:Crime in Bihar]]
[[Category:Janata Dal (United) politicians]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians]]
[[Category:Criminals from Bihar]]
[[Category:Bihar MLAs 1990–1995]]
[[Category:Samata Party politicians]]
[[Category:Bihar People's Party politicians]]
[[Category:Rashtriya Janata Party politicians]]
[[Category:1956 births]]

Anand Mohan Singh - Revision history

->JJMC89 bot III at 07:19, 9 December 2021