Priyadarshini Mattoo

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Priyadarshini Mattoo (July 23, 1973-January 23, 1996) was a 22 year old law student when she was found raped and murdered at her house in New Delhi on January 23, 1996. On October 17, 2006, the Delhi High Court found Santosh Kumar Singh guilty on both counts of rape and murder and on October 30, the same year awarded him capital punishment. Santosh Kumar Singh, the son of a Police Inspector-General, had earlier been acquitted by a trial court in 1999, and the High Court decision was widely perceived in India as a landmark reversal and a measure of the force of media pressure in a democratic setup. This decision went in favour because the facts were not presented correctly in the lower court. The intense media spotlight also led to an accelerated trial, unprecedented in the tangled Indian court system.

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[edit] Significance of the case

The acquittal of Santosh Singh in 1999 had led to a massive public outcry and the investigating agency CBI, under considerable pressure, challenged the judgment in the Delhi high court on February 29, 2000. Public pressure mounted greatly after an acquittal verdict in the Jessica Lal case, where a number of accused including politican's son Manu Sharma were released despite the murder taking place in a high-society bar in the presence of a dozens of people.

Justices RS Sodhi and PK Bhasin shifted from a traditional lax pace, with hearings every few months, to a day-to-day trial and judgment was reached in 42 days. The original acquittal was overturned and Santosh Singh was found guilty of murder and rape.

The case is one of several in India that highlight the ineffectivenes of traditional criminal law system, especially when it comes to high profile perpetrators, including the Manu Sharma and Sanjeev Nanda acquittals.



[edit] Childhood

After Priyadarshini finished school from the Presentation Convent School in Srinagar, her family migrated to Jammu. There she completed her B Com from MAM College, before joining Delhi University for her LLB course.

By all accounts, Priyadarshini was a smart and beautiful young woman. She came from a musically talented family and was herself a good singer and guitar player. A friend has called her "a tom boy, not at all submissive, and very compassionate towards animals. A bubbly girl loaded with confidence..." [1]

It was in Delhi during her law course that Santosh Singh became besotted with her, and made indecent proposals. However, at one point he started stalking her, and her family lodged several FIR's with the police. A police escort was provided for some time, but in the end, the stalking continued.

[edit] The Murder

Priyadarshini was in the third-year of her law program, when she was found strangled in her uncle’s Vasant Kunj residence. She had been raped, injured 14 times with a motorcycle helmet, and finally strangled with a wire.

Santosh Kumar Singh, her senior in college, had been stalking and harassing her for several years, and was the immediate suspect. But Santosh came from an influential family - his father J.P. Singh was then Inspector General of Police in the Indian Union Territory of Pondicherry - in the course of the trial he served as Joint Commissioner of Police in Delhi, where the crime had been committed. In view of these connections, the court handed over investigation of the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

In 1995, Priyadarshini had complained that Santosh Singh was harassing and stalking her. She had been provided with a personal security officer at the time. In retaliation, Santosh had lodged a complaint with the university alleging that she was pursuing two degrees simultaneously. However, it turned out that Priyadarshini had passed M.Com in 1991 and the complaint was merely malicious.

On the morning of January 23, 1996, Santosh was seen knocking for entrance into Priyadarshini's uncle's house, where she was living, in the Vasant Kunj area of Delhi. A servant saw Santosh entering her house, apparently saying that he wanted a compromise in their legal complaints. Subsequently he raped her, strangled her with an electric wire and then battered her face beyond recognition with a motorcycle helmet. Santosh's presence in the house after the murder was also established by the prosecution.

[edit] Trial Court Judgment

Delivering the judgement in the trial court proceedings in 1999, the Additional Sessions Judge. J.P. Thareja said of Santosh, that though he knew that "he is the man who committed the crime," he was forced to acquit him, giving him the benefit of doubt.

In a 450 page judgement the judge came down heavily on the role of Delhi Police; “There has been particular inaction by Delhi Police”, he said, while commenting that the accused’s father may have used his official position to influence the agencies. “The influence of the father has been there in the matter and there was deliberate inaction” (at the time his father was second in command of the police forces in Delhi).

The helmet was found with a shattered safety glass - however the evidence was so poorly presented that the defence was able to discount it.

He further stated that the rule of law doesn’t seem to apply to the children of those who enforce it.

The Delhi police according to the judge, attempted to assist the accused during the investigation and trial. "Lalit Mohan, the Inspector was instrumental in creating false evidence and false defence for the accused. The witnesses of the police including a Sub-Inspector deposed falsely".

The judgement held the CBI responsible for unfair investigation and failure to produce Virender Prasad, Mattoo’s household help, which resulted in the obstruction of justice. The police had claimed Prasad had gone missing and was not traceable, yet in the aftermath a journalist could easily find him in his Bihar village.

The judge added that the CBI fabricated the DNA test in the rape case as it was not obtained in accordance with the judicial procedure and could not therefore be admitted in evidence in view of Section 45 of the Indian Evidence Act.

The "state had failed to bring home the charge of rape against the accused", and while indicting Santosh as "the man who committed the crime", the judge was constrained to acquit him, because of "the benefit of doubt".

[edit] High Court Appeal

Following a public outcry, the CBI then appealed the district court's verdict in Delhi High Court on February 29, 2000. Initially, the trial was not a priority, and there was no presentation of evidence or hearings in the Delhi High Court well into 2006. However, intense public scrutiny was mounted in the case after the acquittals in the Jessica Lal case, with Priyadarshini's aged father Chaman Lal Matoo making frequent appearances on TV, bringing the judiciary under intense pressure.

On August 31, 2006, six years after the initial appeal by CBI, justices RS Sodhi and PK Bhasin took up the case on a day-to-day hearing basis, which is extremely rare in India. Judgement was reached within 42 days which is quite unprecedented.

[edit] Verdict

On October 17, 2006, Santosh Singh, who in the meanwhile had married and become a practising lawyer in Delhi itself, was found guilty under Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder) and 376 (rape).

The verdict blames J.P. Thareja's original judgment:

   
Priyadarshini Mattoo
 The trial judge acquitted the accused amazingly taking a perverse approach. It murdered justice and shocked judicial conscience.
   
Priyadarshini Mattoo

In particular, the verdict held that there were no lacunae in the DNA testing, and that the combination of the forensic and circumstantial evidence was clinching. However, the bench agreed with the trial's court observation that police were reluctant to act on repeated complaints of harassment and stalking against Singh as his father was the senior IPS officer (now retired) Director-General of Police J.P. Singh.

The verdict says "junior staff do not react to complaints against the relatives of their fraternity" and referred to the trial court's observation that the approach and working of the subordinate staff of Delhi Police clearly reflected that the rule of law "is not meant for those who enforce the law nor for their near relatives".

The verdict was reached on the basis of strong circumstantial evidence. Santosh's father J.P. Singh was in court. Priyadarshini's father expressed satisfaction that justice had been achieved ten years after the gruesome murder.

The conviction will most probably be challenged in the Supreme Court of India, but the verdict and the process is seen as a barometer of a changing India. In particular, it is hoped now that media pressure can be brought to bear in the case of prominent accused such as Manu Sharma or Vikas Yadav or Sanjeev Nanda, and that eventually, the ability of the powerful to remain above the law would be curtailed.

[edit] Death Penalty

As recommended by the Central Bureau of Investigation the death penalty was awarded to Santosh Singh on October 30, 2006.

Pronouncing its verdict, the court said the mitigating circumstances under which leniency was begged for Santosh was not enough and the brutal rape and murder does fall in the bracket of "rarest of rare" cases. Santosh was sitting just five-feet away from the jam-packed court.The court had convicted Santosh of the crime earlier this month.

The two-judge bench, comprising Justice R S Sodhi and Justice P K Bhasin, heard both sides before pronouncing the verdict. The court said Santosh Singh had been given many chances to reform by the police when Priyadarshini had complained that he was stalking her. However, he didn't mend his ways and eventually raped and killed her.

"There is absolutely no doubt in our mind that what was required of Singh was exemplary behaviour being a son of police officer and a lawyer himself. Yet with a pre-meditated approach, he continued to harass the victim for two years," the Bench said.

"Inspite of repeated warnings by the police and his undertakings to them, he went about commiting the most ghastly act. The act itself sent ripples in society and showed how insecure a citizen can get against this kind of a person," the Bench remarked

[edit] Appeal To Supreme Court

This article documents a current event.
Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.

Santosh Singh is going to appeal to the Supreme Court of India and it has to confirm the death sentence given by the Delhi High Court .The trial is yet to begin and he is lodged in the Tihar Jail. The defence lawyers of the accused Santosh Singh are likely to question the validity DNA report one of the main causes why he was given the benefit of doubt in the Trial court.There have been doubts it was tampered. [2]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1794281.cms
  2. ^ http://www.mid-day.com/news/nation/2006/october/145832.htm

[edit] External links

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