NEW DELHI: The Delhi HC has overturned the Sentence Review Board’s (SRB) rejection of a premature release plea by Santosh Kumar Singh, convicted for the 1996 rape and murder of law student Priyadarshini Mattoo.
Justice Sanjeev Narula noted signs of Singh’s reformation during incarceration and highlighted the SRB’s failure to conduct a psychological assessment. “The matter is being remitted to the SRB for reconsideration,” the Court ruled, issuing guidelines for future early release reviews.
Singh, who has served over 25 years, was denied release in 2021 and again in 2024. His lawyer argued he poses no threat and lives in an open prison.
Initially acquitted in 1999, Singh was convicted by the Delhi HC in 2006, sentenced to death, later commuted to life by the Supreme Court in 2010.