Free but fair?

...

ON January 23 this year, Chaman Mattoo was in Delhi, on his way to Jammu. Exactly ten years after his daughter, law student Priyadarshini Mattoo, was murdered, and a little more than six years after a court set the accused free even after indicting him as 8216;8216;the man who committed the crime,8217;8217; the father of the victim sees no progress in getting justice.

Priyadarshini, 22, a final year LLB student was followed home to her Vasant Kunj house on the afternoon of January 23, 1996. The assailant, according to the prosecution, allegedly barged into her house and severely assaulted her, strangling her with an electric wire. The post-mortem report would turn up 19 separate injury marks on her body, besides a battered face.

In the aftermath of the crime which shocked the neighbourhood 8212; and, eventually, the country 8212; the police zeroed in on the suspect. Santosh Kumar Singh, son of IPS officer JP Singh, who eventually retired as a Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police, had been allegedly stalking the girl 8216;8216;in person and over the phone8217;8217;, in January and February a year before the murder. Priyadarshini had filed a police complaint, following which she was assigned a security cover.

When the contours of the case changed from a sensational murder in broad daylight to that of a high-profile accused, the CBI was handed over the case, and Singh, who had passed the same law course in 1994, was later arrested. Investigators immediately got his antecedents out, including the police complaint the victim had filed, and records of his frequent run-ins with the girl. Evidence from the scene of the crime, witness testimony, DNA samples to substantiate the assault were analysed at the Forensic Science Laboratory.

The trial lasted till the end of 1999. On December 3, Additional Sessions Judge GP Thareja delivered his 453-page verdict: 8216;8216;I know that he the accused is the man who committed the crime. I acquit him, giving him the benefit of doubt.8217;8217; That verdict, which severely indicted the CBI for many lapses, eventually led to President K R Narayanan8217;s remark that 8216;8216;the cathedrals of justice have become like casinos.8217;8217;

case file

Last call
8226; Priyadarshini Mattoo, 22 year old law student, assaulted and murdered
on January 23, 1996
8226; Investigators zero in on Santosh Kumar Singh, son of a top cop, who had been allegedly stalking the victim for more than a year
8226; Case shifted to the CBI. Verdict finally comes out on December 3, 1999
8226; Matter yet to be appealed in High Court, after CBI officials vowed to get back on the case

The judge ruled that the investigating agency had faulted on many counts, including 8216;8216;not folowing official investigative procedures.8217;8217; The DNA tests conducted on the victim and the accused, ASJ Thareja said, had been fabricated, and evidence ioncluding fingerprint reports had been kept away. Among the more blatant lapses in the probe was that sleuths had claimed that the victim8217;s domestic help, a prosecution witness was missing. It took a journalist to trace the man to his Bihar village.

Story continues below this ad

The CBI admitted that it had to pull up its socks and plug holes in future cases. Its appeal was admitted by a two-judge Delhi High Court Bench on April 26, 2000, but on October 17 that year, the bench rejected the agency8217;s appeal for arresting Singh while the hearing on the appeal was in progress.

8216;8216;The CBI assured me that this time they would get fool-proof evidence,8217;8217; the father of the victim was to say eventually. 8216;8216;But there has been little work to be seen.8217;8217; CBI officials say they are still working on it.

Meanwhile, the alleged killer went on to marry and settle in Delhi and is now a practising lawyer.