Way back in 1999, the trial judge had acquitted Santosh Kumar Singh, whilesaying, "I know that he (the accused) is the man who committed the crime. Iacquit him, giving him the benefit of doubt.". But the judge had alsopointed out that "the influence of the father has been there in the matter and there was deliberate inaction".And his father, JP Singh, was no small fry. The Commissioner of Police ofPondicherry when the murder was committed, he had been transferred to Delhi as Joint Commissioner of Police during thetrial.
In between, Santosh Kumar Singh had gone on to marry and begin practicing lawin Delhi. Today, when the clock struck 2 pm, the lean anddusky man in his 30s walked unobtrusively into Court Hall No 35 to hear the theverdict with a supreme look of calm composure. He askeda fellow advocate for a seat in the second row as the hall was packed withjournalists, advocates, police officials and some friends of Priyadarashini.
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As time passed, a composed Santosh appeared to turnpensive as he waited for the two judges, who trooped in at around 2.15 pm.In the seven to eight minutes it took the bench of theDelhi High Court to convict him for the murder and rape of Pridarshini Mattoonearly 11 years ago, his demeanour went first from calm composure to nervousness,and as Justices R S Sodhi and P K Bhasin pronounced their verdict, it turnedpale and downcast even as an advocate friend tried to console him.
Justice Sodhi, speaking for the bench, asked Singh'scounsel R K Naseem whether he preferred death or a life term for his client. Thecounsel replied, "Your lordship, life sentence". Thebench then said it would decide the quantum of punishment on October 30, whenthe court reopened after the Diwali vacation.
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Government counsel Mukta Gupta quickly rose from herseat and urged the court to direct the CBI to take Singh into custodyimmediately. The bench then asked CBI staff presentin court to take Singh into custody.
However, about half-a dozen advocate friends of Singh from the Tis Hazari courtsturned their ire on the media. The advocates, who were trying to preventphoto-journalists from taking pictures of Singh being taken into a police van,started physically assaulting the scribes.
The camera phone of a journalist was damaged by the unruly advocates, who abusedthe media for creating what they called "hype" in the case. Somejournalists tried to stop the advocates, forcing policemen in plainclothes andsenior members of the media to intervene and defuse the situation.
Ironically, an hour after the commotion ended and themedia personnel were busy getting xerox copies of the court's judgement, some ofSingh's advocate friends implored the journalists to spare them a copy, whichthe latter obliged despite the acrimony witnessed a little earlier.
