The Delhi High Court has granted 13 days parole to Santosh Kumar Singh, prime accused in the Priyadarshini Mattoo rape and murder case, to appear in his LLM examination.
The court directed Singh, who is serving a life term, to furnish a personal bond of Rs25,000 before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Saket while allowing his plea against the single judge's order dismissing his application for parole.
A bench of Chief Justice D Murugesan and Justice Jayant Nath granted Singh parole from May 16 to 28 and directed the Tihar jail authority to allow him to appear for LLM second year examination after his personal bond is accepted by the magistrate.
Singh, a law student in the Delhi University, had raped and murdered Mattoo, a third-year law student, in January 1996.
In his plea, Singh said that he has been pursuing LLM from Annamalai University through distance education and sought parole to appear in second year examination commencing from May 19. He also said the court had earlier granted him parole to appear in the first year examination in 2012.
On April 17, the single judge had declined his plea saying Tihar jail can facilitate him to take his examination within the prison. Singh, a law student in the Delhi University, had raped and murdered Mattoo, a third-year law student, in January 1996.
He was acquitted by the trial court on December 3, 1999, but the Delhi High Court had on October 27, 2006 reversed that decision, holding him guilty of rape and murder.
The high court had also awarded death penalty to him in the case. Singh, son of a former senior IPS officer, had challenged his conviction and death sentence awarded by the high court.
In October 2010, the Supreme Court had upheld Singh's conviction but reduced the death sentence to life imprisonment.
