The Delhi High Court on Tuesday granted three-week parole to Santosh Kumar Singh, convicted in the rape and murder of law student Priyadarshini Mattoo, to write his law exam, PTI reported.
His counsel had sought four-week parole for his exams and to attend his daughter’s birthday in June. The counsel first approached the jail authorities but they did not allow him because of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
Justice Mukta Gupta allowed Singh to appear for his final year Master of Law examination that will begin from May 24. After the Delhi government did not oppose his parole plea, the court ordered that Singh be released from May 21. The court asked Singh to furnish a personal bond of Rs 25,000 and a surety of the like amount to the satisfaction of the jail superintendent.
On January 23, 1996, 25-year-old Priyadarshini Mattoo was raped and killed by Singh. Son of former Indian Police Service officer JP Singh, the accused was also a law student at the Delhi University along with Mattoo.
On April 11, 1996, the CBI had filed a chargesheet against him and the trial began over a year later. In December 1999, a trial court acquitted him, however, on October 17, 2006, the Delhi High Court had reversed the decision, holding him guilty of rape and murder and awarded him death penalty.
The Supreme Court in October 2010 upheld the Delhi High Court’s verdict, but commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment.
Singh had completed his first branch of Master of Law in 2014 and then took admission in the second branch.
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