Priyadarshini Mattoo case: Supreme Court refuses to hear plea against denial of extension of convict's parole

p>New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to hear a plea challenging the denial of extension of parole granted to convict Santosh Kumar Singh in the 1996 Priyadarshini Mattoo murder case..

A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Prashant Kumar Mishra noted that the main matter related to remission is already pending before the Delhi High Court and coming up for hearing on May 18..

The bench granted liberty to Singh to seek advancement of his hearing on the plea before the high court and expeditious disposal..

"It is needless to say that if such a request is made, the high court shall consider it, having regard to the facts of the case that the incident occurred on January 23, 1996, and the petitioner has been in jail for 31 years, including remission," the bench said..

The top court requested the high court to dispose of the matter at the earliest in accordance with law.. West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 | Supreme Court to hear plea on EC freezing electoral rolls.

Counsel for Singh contended that the high court has passed a very drastic order, directing him to surrender and his client has been serving his sentence in an 'open jail', which allows him to exit the jail complex daily between 8 am and 8 pm for gainful employment..

On March 19, the high court directed Singh to surrender after Mattoo's brother strongly opposed his plea for premature release.. It had said that the court would consider Singh's plea for remission only after he surrendered..

Mattoo's brother has contended that the sentence review board (SRB) has rightly rejected his plea for remission..