India murder case penalty sought

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India's top federal investigative agency has sought death penalty for the main accused in the rape and murder of a Delhi student 10 years ago.

Priyadarshini Mattoo was raped and murdered in 1996. The main accused, Santosh Kumar Singh, was tried but let off due to lack of evidence.

An appeal has been pending in the Delhi High Court for the last six years.

In July the court said it will re-examine the evidence and ordered the case to be put on fast track.

The High Court has been hearing the case now three days a week and the prosecution agency, Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI, has concluded its arguments.

Benefit of doubt

The CBI's lawyers told the court they would present their arguments to support the demand for death penalty later.

Next week, the defence is due to present its case before the court.

Mr Singh, who is now a practising lawyer, was present in court.

While acquitting him in 1999, the trial court judge said he knew Mr Singh was guilty.

But, he said, he was forced to acquit him, giving him the benefit of the doubt.

According to the prosecution, Mr Singh had stalked and harassed Ms Mattoo for months.

A candlelight vigil held in Delhi for model Jessica Lal

Mr Singh has always maintained his innocence.

The judge was scathing in his criticism of the investigating authorities saying they had manipulated evidence and ignored proper procedures.

Mr Singh's father was a senior police officer at the time and the judge said he may have interfered in the case: "The influence of the father has been there in the matter and there was deliberate inaction".

Public outcry

Ms Mattoo's body was found in her Delhi flat in January, 1996. She had been was strangled and her body showed signs of 19 injuries.

A public outcry followed Mr Singh's acquittal, and the prosecution appealed the verdict in Delhi high court in April 2000.

But for the next six years, the case made little headway.

Now several of Ms Mattoo's old friends and youth activists from around the world have formed a group called "Justice for Priyadarshini" and they have held candle-light vigils and e-mail campaigns demanding punishment for the murderer.

Recently, another murder case - that of Delhi-based model Jessica Lal - was brought back in the court after a public outcry and media reports.

In the past few months, several senior lawyers and former judges have openly criticised the ineffectiveness of the criminal law system in India.