Priyadarshini's father 'disappointed' with verdict

Expressing disappointment with the Supreme Court verdict in the 1996 Priyadarshini Mattoo murder case, the victim's father Chaman Lal Mattoo on Wednesday said reducing the death penalty for the killer to life imprisonment was a "concession" and should not set a precedent.

Expressing disappointment with the Supreme Court verdict in the 1996 Priyadarshini Mattoo murder case, the victim's father Chaman Lal Mattoo on Wednesday said reducing the death penalty for the killer to life imprisonment was a "concession" and should not set a precedent.

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"After fighting for 14 long years, with the entire civil society watching, they have been dismayed by this verdict. The court should have upheld the death sentence," Mattoo told a TV channel.

He said he was "disappointed". His reaction came soon after the Supreme Court commuted the death sentence of Santosh Kumar Singh, the son of a senior police officer, to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of Priyadarshini. Singh, her senior in Delhi University, had been given the death sentence by Delhi High Court in 2006.

Chaman Lal Mattoo said: "The Supreme Court should make sure that this reduction is not misused as a trend and a trick in the sense that the culprit should roam here and there while in jail."