HC hands out death to Mattoo killer

NEW DELHI: Ten years after the rape and murder of 23-year-old law student Priyadarshini Mattoo, the Delhi High Court on Monday sealed the fate of convict Santosh Kumar Singh by awarding death penalty, saying he deserved nothing less.

Pronouncing the quantum of punishment in a jam-packed courtroom 10 days after Singh’s conviction, Justice RS Sodhi and Justice PK Bhasin said “he (Santosh) shall be hanged till death”. “We are of the opinion that for a crime of this sort, which has been committed with pre-meditation and in a brutal manner, the convict deserves no other sentence but death,” the Bench observed as the 35-year-old convict waited outside the court room for the punishment.

Dressed in grey trousers and white shirt, Singh turned pale and was crest-fallen soon after he was informed of the sentence by his friends. He became emotional when his father came out of the court room and met him.

Singh, now a practising lawyer, married and father of a girl child, had escaped from the clutches of law when the trial in 1999 had acquitted him with the sessions judge remarking that he knew that Singh was guilty but was letting him free because of lack of evidence. A sustained public outcry and a media campaign against the acquittal led to an appeal in the high court which culminated in the conviction and death sentence.

“There is absolutely no doubt in our mind that what was required of Singh was exemplary behaviour, being a son of a police officer and a lawyer himself. Yet, with a pre-meditated approach, he continued to harass the victim for two years,” the Bench said. “In spite of repeated warnings by the police and his undertakings to them, he went about committing the most ghastly act. The act itself sent ripples in society and showed how insecure a citizen can get against this kind of a person.”

The entire proceedings were witnessed by some friends and family members of both the victim and the convict. Justice Sodhi’s wife and his daughter were also among those witnessing the proceedings.