The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked Santosh Kumar Singh, who is serving life term for rape and murder of law student in 1996, to submit complete details of his education.
Justice Mukta Gupta noted that Singh has been pursuing the two-year LLM programme since 2012 and asked how long would he take to complete the course. The court said, “File a detailed affidavit explaining the studies he has done in his life and in which year. For how long his education will continue? Let us be clear about his education”.
The court, which was hearing his plea seeking parole to write the LLM exams scheduled to start from May 22, made it clear that it was not stopping him from studying and listed the case for hearing on May 21.
The convict’s advocate said that Singh was doing an LLM in two branches and has completed the course in one of them and pursuing it in the other.
Seeking parole
During the hearing, Delhi government standing counsel (criminal) Rahul Mehra opposed the parole plea, saying Singh was seeking parole to write the LLM exam and also attend the wedding of his brother-in-law in Bihar.
The lawyer said it has become a trend among the prisoners nowadays to enrol in courses to get out on parole. The advocate said LLM was a two-year programme and the convict cannot be permitted to avail parole repeatedly to pursue the course.
Singh, a law student in DU, was acquitted by the trial court on December 3, 1999, but the High Court had on October 27, 2006, reversed the decision, holding him guilty of rape and murder.
