Click to play videoPatna: After 10 years of legal battle, the Delhi High Court last week sentenced Santosh Kumar Singh to death for the rape and murder of Priyadarshini Matoo. The world is convinced that there is finally justice at last for the Mattoo family. But residents of Dehri-On-Sone, a small town in central Bihar, don't agree.
It's from this village that Santosh married a girl in 2003. The family and friends of Santosh's wife are now worried. But the man who is losing his sleep is Rishikesh Singh, Santosh's father-in-law. Caught in the cross-fire, Rishikesh Singh is today a man in deep distress.
"Supreme Court main ja raha hoon. Waha se umid hai ki mujhe nyay milega. Saantosh ke saath risshta 2003 main kiya tha. Aur yah ghaatna 1996 main ghati thi. Aagar kusurwar hota to beti ki shadi nahi karta , (Now, we are going to move the Supreme Court. I hope we will get justice there. We entered into this relationship with Santosh in 2003 whereas the incident had taken place in 1996. Had he been guilty, he wouldn't have married my daughter)," Rishikesh claims.
When the CNN-IBN crew reached Singh's house, Santosh's wife was also staying there. But the family refused to bring her on camera. The entire family is standing by her, still hoping that Santosh will be back some day.
And whatever the high court verdict may be, Santosh's in-laws are determined not to give up for the sake of their daughter.
"Unka pariwar sabhya hai. Aur ladka acha hai. Hamne apne beti ki shadi uss ghar main ki thi. High court ka faisala ayya hai. Aur hum unka izzat karte hai. Age apeal main jayenge. Aur umid hai ki faisaala hamare pakcha main ayega, (Santosh comes from a decent family. He is an honest man. We married our daughter to that home. Now, there is this high court verdict. We do respect the court order. We will now appeal against the verdict and we hope that this time there will be a judgement in our favour)," Gupteshwar Singh, the uncle of Santosh's wife, said.
"Wo to sidha sadha darpok type ka admi hai. Wo hatya jaisa sazis kaise kaaar sakta hai? (He is a straightforward, god-fearing man. How can he get involved in a murder?)" asks Brajesh Kumar Singh, another uncle of Santosh's wife.
(With inputs from Om Prakash Singh in Aurangabad)
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