Priyadarshini Mattoo case: HC sets aside decision to reject convict’s plea for premature release

The Delhi High Court set aside the sentence review board's rejection of Santosh Kumar Singh's premature release plea, citing signs of reformation. Singh, serving a life term for the 1996 rape-murder of Priyadarshini Mattoo, has spent 25 years in jail

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday set aside the decision of the sentence review board which had rejected a plea for premature release of Santosh Kumar Singh, who is serving life term for the 1996 rape and murder of law student Priyadarshini Mattoo.

Justice Sanjeev Narula said there is an element of reformation in Singh and referred the matter back to the sentence review board (SRB) to consider afresh the convict’s premature release plea. “I have found some element of reformation in him. The SRB decision is set aside and I have referred back the matter to SRB to consider it afresh,” the judge said while pronouncing the verdict.

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The court has also framed certain guidelines to be followed by SRB while considering prisoners’ pleas.

It said the SRB must conduct psychological assessment of the convicts while considering their pleas which was not done in this case. The detailed judgment is awaited.

Singh, in his 2023 petition, has sought quashing of the recommendation of the SRB rejecting his premature release in the meeting held on October 21, 2021.

Senior advocate Mohit Mathur, representing Singh, has said the convict has been sentenced for life for the offence of murder and has already undergone 25 years of incarceration, including remission. He also said that the conduct of the convict has been satisfactory which showed that he has reformed and has lost every potential for committing the crime.

He would be a useful member of the society and for the last several years, he has been in open jail as well, the counsel submitted.

The court was earlier informed that another SRB meeting was held on September 18, 2024 and his case was again rejected for premature release.

Mattoo, 25, was raped and murdered in January 1996. Singh, a law student of Delhi University, was acquitted by the trial court in the case on December 3, 1999, but the Delhi High Court had on October 27, 2006 reversed the decision, holding him guilty of rape and murder and awarded him death penalty.

Singh, the son of a former IPS officer, had challenged his conviction and death sentence awarded by the high court.

In October 2010, the Supreme Court had upheld Singh’s conviction, but commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment.