Mattoo case: Santosh moves SC

New Delhi: Santosh Kumar Singh moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday, challenging the Delhi High Court order convicting him for the rape-and-murder of Priyadarshini Mattoo and sentencing him to death.

The High Court had convicted Santosh on October 17 and subsequently sentenced him to death for raping and killing law student Priyadarshini Mattoo in 1996. Santosh, the son of a former IPS officer, is a lawyer by profession.

While convicting Santosh in the case, a high court bench comprising Justice R S Sodhi and Justice P K Bhasin, had ruled that "the acquittal order passed by the trial judge in 1999 has shocked the conscience of the judiciary."

The death sentence needs to be ratified by the Supreme Court before the trial court sets a date for Santosh's hanging. Now, the Apex Court is likely to hear the matter along with Santosh's petition within the next few weeks.

Santosh and his family have been hopeful that the SC will actually agree with the trial court verdict and not the guilty pronouncement made by the high court.

Santosh's lawyers have also argued that he should not be given the death sentence since he had a two-year-old child, a retarded brother and aged parents.

In its order, high court had earlier said that "Santosh Kumar Singh's crime was unpardonable. He was a lawyer himself and the son of a senior police officer. Yet, Santosh not only harassed Priyadarshini Mattoo time and again, but also went back on the written assurances and apologies that he had given to the Delhi Police, promising that he would mend his ways. Given his past conduct, the highest capital punishment possible is what Santosh Kumar Singh deserves."

Santosh's defence lawyers had also argued for life imprisonment for him, claiming that the injuries observed on Priyadarshini's body were not very grave.

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