Priyadarshini Mattoo killer gets death penalty

New Delhi, Oct 30 (UNI) Rejecting the defence plea for life imprisonment, the Delhi High Court today awarded the death penalty to Santosh Singh in the sensational Priyadarshini Mattoo case, a decade after the law student was raped and murdered in her Vasant Kunj flat sending shock waves across the nation.

The verdict was handed down by a Division Bench comprising Justice R S Sodhi and Justice P K Bhasin.

In its judgment, the Bench observed that the grave offences warranted nothing less than the death penalty.

Santosh's counsel R K Naseem prayed to the court to take into consideration the poor health of Santosh' father, mentally-retarded brother, old mother as well as the good conduct of the convict while in prison.

However, Central Bureau of Investigation's counsel Amarendra Sharan pressed for the death penalty.

Santosh had been absolved in the case by the trial court in 1999 for want of evidence.

The case was taken up again by the Delhi High Court earlier this year following mounting public pressure.

''We will ask for the death penalty for the accused because of the ghastly nature of the crime,'' CBI chief Vijay Shankar had said earlier.

Sporting a white shirt, Santosh was present in the lobby outside the court in company of security men. Waiting for the sentence with bated breath had apparently worn him out. He did not appear to have slept a wink for several nights.

His friends and lawyers provided him company. He would sometimes smile and immediately turn his usual anxious self.

When the news was finally broken to him, blood drained from his face and he stared into space, looking dejected and crestfallen.

A friend of the Mattoos, Ashok, hailed the death penalty calling it a victory of India's judicial system and the media.

''This was the result of public outcry and media pressure which built a case and sustained it till its logical conclusion,'' he said.

Adiyaraj Kaul, a member of campaign ' Justice for Priyadarshini Mattoo', expressed gratitude to the media for taking up the cudgels for the common man like Chamanlal Mattoo, the father of the victim.

However, B L Wali, counsel and close friend of the Mattoos, said Mr Chamanlal Mattoo would have been as happy with life imprisonment.

''For him reversal of the trial court's order acquitting Santosh was more important. Whether death or life imprisonment, it hardly mattered to him,'' he said.

Priyadarshini Mattoo's body was found in her Vasant Kunj flat in January 1996. She had been strangled and her body bore signs of 19 injuries.

Trial court judge G P Thareja had said he knew Singh was guilty but was forced to give him the benefit of the doubt and acquit him.

The judge had been scathing in his criticism of the investigative authorities, saying they had manipulated evidence and ignored proper procedures.

Santosh's father was a senior police officer at the time of the commission of the offence and the judge had said he may have interfered in the case: ''The influence of the father has been there in the matter and there was deliberate inaction.'' According to the prosecution, Santosh had stalked and harassed Priyadarshini for months. But he always pleaded ''not guilty'' during the trial of the case.

A public outcry followed Singh's acquittal, and the prosecution appealed against the verdict of the trial court in the High Court in April 2000.

The campaigners formed a group called 'Justice for Priyadarshini' and held candlelit vigils and e-mail campaigns demanding punishment for the murderer.

The case had not made much headway until July, when the High Court decided to re-examine the evidence on a ''fast-track'' basis.

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