Hope in India student murder case

By Geeta Pandey
BBC News, Delhi

Mattoo was found strangled in her Delhi flat

The Delhi High Court says it will reexamine the evidence in the case of a student who was raped and murdered 10 years ago at the end of August.

The man accused of killing the student, Priyadarshini Mattoo, was acquitted in 1999 because of lack of evidence.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed an appeal challenging the acquittal in April 2000.

Last Sunday, supporters of Mattoo held a protest in Delhi, hoping public pressure would lead to a retrial.

The CBI on Friday appealed in the High Court for the case to be brought forward, but the court said it would go ahead on 31 August.

Benefit of doubt

When the trial court judge acquitted the main accused, Santosh Kumar Singh, he said he knew the defendant was guilty but was obliged to acquit him.

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".

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.

Earlier this year a public outcry at the acquittal of several men accused in the shooting dead of a Delhi model, Jessica Lal, resulted in the reopening of the case.

That case highlighted growing discontent in India at what many say is its ineffective law system, where high-profile perpetrators are almost never punished.