A Supreme Court Bench comprising of Justices Harjit Singh Bedi and Chandramauli Prasad has upheld the conviction of (Advocate) Santosh Kumar Singh who raped and then murdered a 3rd year law student, Priyadarshini Mattoo in 1996. The Court also reduced the death sentence of Santosh Kumar to life imprisonment.

The Times of India reports that the Bench said, "The conviction is maintained. To our mind certain things are in favour of appellant (Singh). We are converting the punishment of death sentence into the life imprisonment".

Santosh was represented by Advocate Aniruddha P. Mayee and the State through the Central Bureau of Investigation was represented by Advocate Arvind Kumar Sharma.

The chronology of significant events in the rape and murder of Priyadarshini Mattoo -

Santosh Kumar Singh - Santosh comes from an influential family, his father J.P. Singh was then Inspector General of Police in the Indian Union Territory of Pondicherry and in the course of the trial he served as Joint Commissioner of Police in Delhi, where the crime had been committed. In view of these connections, the Court handed over the investigation of the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The complaint and the murder - In 1995, Priyadarshini Mattoo had complained that Santosh was stalking her and claiming that Priyadarshini was pursuing two degrees simultaneously. The complaint was falsely reported. On January 23, 1996 a servant saw Santosh entering the house on the pretext of saying that he wanted a compromise in their legal complaints. Subsequently he raped her, strangled her with an electric wire and then battered her face beyond recognition with a motorcycle helmet. Santosh's presence in the house after the murder was also established by the prosecution.

Trial Court and subsequently Delhi High Court - Santosh was acquitted by the Trial Court in 1999 giving Santosh benefit of doubt and on lack of proper evidence, but the Delhi High Court reversed the Trial Courts decision in October 2006 and held him guilty of rape and murder. Wikipedia reports that “On August 31, 2006, six years after the initial appeal by CBI, justices RS Sodhi and PK Bhasin took up the case on a day-to-day hearing basis, which is extremely rare in India. Judgment was reached within 42 days, which is quite unprecedented.

On October 17, 2006, Santosh Singh, who in the meanwhile had married and become a practising lawyer in Delhi itself, was found guilty under Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder) and 376 (rape).

The verdict blames J.P. Thareja's original judgment: The trial judge acquitted the accused amazingly taking a perverse approach. It murdered justice and shocked judicial conscience”.

Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, who was then the Additional Solicitor-General argued on behalf of the CBI.

Supreme Court - Santosh challenged his conviction and death sentence in January 2007 in the Supreme Court of India. In February 2007, the Supreme Court admitted Santosh’s appeal against the High Court verdict and stayed the death sentence.

October 6, 2010 - Supreme Court upholds the conviction of Santosh Singh, but commutes the death penalty into life term.