Supreme Court Refuses To Entertain Plea To Inquire Mukhthar Ansari's Death, Disposes Of Son's Petition

The Supreme Court today (April 30) disposed of the writ petition filed in 2023 by Umar Ansari, son of gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari, seeking his father's transfer to any jail outside Uttar Pradesh, as he apprehended harm to the latter while in custody. The petition was disposed of after the Court was informed that the Ansari died in jail in March 2024 reportedly due to cardiac arrest. 

Mukhtar Ansari was an accused in the case involving the murder of BJP leader Krishnanand Rai and various other cases. In 2021, the Supreme Court allowed a petition filed by the State of UP to transfer him to a jail in UP from a jail in Punjab. In January, the Court asked Uttar Pradesh authorities to furnish copies of medical and enquiry reports pertaining to his death to his son. After Mukhar Ansari's death, in July 2024, Umar Ansari alleged that his father was poisoned in jail and died due to the withholding of requisite medical treatment.

Today, before a bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Rajesh Bindal, Advocate Nizam Pasha submitted that the petition cannot become infructuous just because the person has died. He added that his son apprehended the death of Mukhar Ansari and therefore had sought protection. 

Responding to this, Justice Bindal clarified that Mukhar Ansari died due to a heart attack. On the other side, Additional Solicitor General, KM Nataraj, for the Respondent, informed the Court that the medical report has been given to the petitioner. To this, Pasha responded that he received the report only yesterday and since it's more than 500 pages, he requested some time to go through it. He also added that an application has been filed seeking an inquiry into the reason for death.

However, Justice Sundresh suggested that the petitioner can go to the High Court. Justice Bindal also clarified that the only reason why the Article 32 petition was entertained was that the petitioner sought transfer from one jail to another.

In 2023, the present writ petition came to be filed by Umar Ansari alleging that his family members had been targets of persecution by the State and that he received reliable information that his father's life was in grave danger as there was a conspiracy afoot involving people within the state establishment to assassinate him in Banda jail.

The plea stated that out of all persons accused in the murder, 4 had already been murdered. It pointed out the cases of 1) Shahnawaz, an undertrial who was killed in December 2019, in the course of being produced before court; 2) Atiq Ahmed and his brother Khalid Azim, who were shot dead in April 2023 while being escorted by police officers for a routine medical check-up; (3) Meraj Ahmad, one of the co-accused with Ansari in a case under MCOCA, who was shot dead inside a high-security barrack of Chitrakoot District Jail, UP in May, 2021. Per contra, state of UP maintained that no harm will be caused to Mukhtar Ansari in jail.

On March 28, 2024, Mukhtar Ansari reportedly died on account of a cardiac arrest, while undergoing a sentence of life imprisonment. In the counter-affidavit, State of UP stated that upon post-mortem, a panel of doctors concluded that Mukhtar Ansari died due to cardiac arrest.

Case Title: UMAR ANSARI Versus THE STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH AND ORS., W.P.(Crl.) No. 629/2023