Santosh Singh gets parole in Mattoo case

Santosh Kumar Singh, sentenced to death in the rape and murder case, has been granted 14 days parole to perform last rites of his father, who passed away.

Santosh Kumar Singh, sentenced to death in the rape and murder case of Priyadarshni Mattoo, was on Wednesday granted 14 days parole to perform last rites of his father, who passed away.

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His father, JP Singh, a former IPS officer died on Tuesday.

An application on behalf of Singh came for hearing before a Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan which said Singh would be taken in custody from Tihar Jail to his residence for performing the rituals.

The Bench said Singh would be allowed to be taken to his residence everyday between 0700 hours to 1400 hours and on September 18, the concluding day of the rituals he would be allowed to stay at his residence for 24 hours.

Additional Solicitor General Amrender Sharan said he has instruction not to oppose the application of the convict.

However, he said Singh could only be allowed to visit his residence under the protection of the Delhi Police.

The apex court has already admitted his appeal and stayed the execution of his death sentence.

Singh, who is lodged in Tihar Jail, had contended in his appeal against the Delhi High Court judgement that the "acquittal by the trial court was correct and proper".

The 37-year-old convict had said the observation of the High Court while convicting him did not find any basis against the evidence on record.

The High Court in its judgement on October 27, 2006 had reversed the trial court verdict acquitting him of the offence of raping and murdering 23-year-old Mattoo 11 years ago.

Justices R S Sodhi and P K Bhasin while setting aside the lower court's verdict, had termed it as "perverse" and sentenced Singh to death, saying he deserved nothing less.