August 12, 2007
Mattoo's Friends Alarmed
Over Apex Court's 'Passion' Ruling
New Delhi
Friends of slain Delhi University law student Priyadarshini Mattoo
are alarmed over an apex court ruling last week that even a double
murder committed "in a fit of passion" after an abortive rape bid
does not deserve death penalty.
They have termed as "shocking" the ruling by Justices S.B. Sinha and
Markandey Katju upholding a Punjab and Haryana High Court ruling,
which commuted a death sentence on a double murder convict by a
lower court to life term, saying it did not fall in the 'rarest of
rare' category.
The convict, Kulvinder Singh, had in August 2002 hacked to death
Hardeep Kaur in a Punjab village after she resisted his bid to rape
her. He also killed the woman's grandmother who tried to save her.
"While upholding the conviction of the accused for murder, we reduce
the sentence to life imprisonment since it appears that the crime
was committed in a fit of passion and does not come within the
category of the 'rarest of rare' to deserve death penalty," the apex
court bench ruled.
A Sessions court had sentenced Kulvinder Singh to death saying: "The
conduct of the accused depicted him as a person who constituted a
threat to the society. He has forfeited his right to life by his
barbarity."
Priyadarshini Mattoo, a 23-year-old law student, was raped and
murdered in January 1996 by Santosh Singh, her senior and the son of
senior police official J.P. Singh. He had been stalking the girl for
over a year.
Friends of Mattoo say the apex court ruling would give Santosh Singh
an escape route.
Aditya Raj Kaul, who spearheaded the campaign 'Justice to
Priyadarshini Mattoo' after a Delhi trial court had acquitted
Santosh, said: "It's a shocking ruling from the highest court of the
country."
"At this rate, Santosh Singh's lawyer may also argue before the apex
court that he committed the crime in a fit of passion after he
failed to rape her and may escape the gallows.
"After all Santosh Singh and his lawyers can conveniently cite his
past conduct of consistently stalking her to convince the court that
he had a passion aflame for Mattoo," he said, adding that all the
members of the campaign were equally disturbed by the ruling.
"This judgment has alarmed us. We will discuss on what we should do
in such a situation," Kaul said.
The Delhi High Court sentenced Santosh Singh to death last year. His
appeal is pending before the apex court.
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