The Supreme Court on Wednesday commuted the convict Santosh Singh’s death sentence to life imprisonment in the Pryiyadarshini Mattoo rape and murder case.
The Apex Court judge upheld Santosh Singh guilty for raping and then killing Priyadarshini but reduced the death penalty to the life sentence, saying that the balance sheet falls in favour of the convict.
"The conviction is maintained," a Bench comprising Justices H S Bedi and C K Prasad said.
However, the Bench said "To our mind, certain things are in favour of appellant (Singh). We are converting the punishment of death sentence into the life imprisonment."
Santosh Kumar had challenged the verdict of Delhi High Court, which in October 2006 awarded death penalty to Santosh Kumar on the charges of raping and murdering Priyadarshini Mattoo.
Earlier, Santosh was freed from the charges of rape and murder by the trial court in December 1999. The victim’s family then approached Delhi High Court, the court in October 2006, held Santosh guilty of raping and killing Priyadarshini.
Priyadarshini was pursuing law from Delhi University in January 1996, when she was raped and murdered by Santosh Kumar Singh, son of a former IPS officer.
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