New Delhi: The All India Kashmiri Samaj (AIKS) has strongly objected to any consideration of the premature release of Santosh Kumar Singh, convicted in the high-profile rape and murder case of Priyadarshini Mattoo, and has urged the Delhi Government to reject his remission plea currently under review.
In a strongly worded letter to Delhi Home Minister Ashish Sood, who chairs the Sentence Review Board, AIKS president Ravinder Pandita cautioned against granting Singh’s release, stating it would set a “dangerous precedent” and send a “chilling signal” to victims of heinous crimes across the country.
“We raise strong objections to the review that was rejected earlier also. The release of Santosh Kumar Singh would send a chilling signal across India,” Ravinder Pandita, told the news agency Kashmir News Trust over the phone.
AIKS, in its communication, reminded the Delhi government that the convict’s earlier review was also turned down and that his release now, after serving only a partial term, would violate both the spirit and letter of the Delhi Sentencing Remission Policy of 2004. The policy mandates a minimum of 14 years of actual imprisonment for life convicts whose death sentences have been commuted.
Santosh Kumar Singh, son of a former Inspector-General of Police, was sentenced to death by the Delhi High Court in 2006 for the rape and murder of 25-year-old law student Priyadarshini Mattoo. The case had sparked a national outcry in the late 1990s. On October 17, 2006, the High Court convicted him on both charges, and later that month awarded the death penalty. However, the Supreme Court of India commuted the sentence to life imprisonment in 2010.
Priyadarshini Mattoo, who belonged to a Kashmiri Pandit family, was found raped and murdered at her uncle’s residence at Vasant Kunj, New Delhi on January 23, 1996. Her family had migrated from Kashmir to Delhi long before the onset of militancy in the Valley.
The AIKS letter is part of a wider pushback from civil society and socio-political organizations who have submitted similar memoranda to the Delhi Home Minister, expressing concern over the potential release of a convict found guilty in a case that symbolized the fight for justice and women’s safety in India.
AIKS has demanded that the petition be summarily rejected in the interest of justice, public safety, and national conscience. [KNT]
