New Delhi: In the rush of the 'breaking news' following the high court verdict sentencing Santosh Kumar Singh to death for the rape and murder of Priyadarshini Mattoo, what went unnoticed was the stormy scenes outside the courtroom.
After the verdict, friends of the convict roughed up journalists, apparently venting their anger for the pro-active role played by media in this case.
As the court pronounced the judgement, lawyer friends of Singh surrounded him to keep him away from the media glare. However, an over enthusiastic cameraman from a production house attempted to catch a glimpse of Singh on his mobile camera phone.
Following heated arguments, the friends caught hold of the cameraman and began to thrash him only to be rescued by the policemen, who took away his mobile phone. He was later let off by the police with a warning not to repeat this act.
After the scuffle, a palpable tension was visible around the courtroom where journalists were waiting for the copy of the judgement. The friends of Singh showered abuses on scribes who paid back in the same coin, a replay of October 17 when the two groups almost came to blows with each other.
Anger among lawyers were such that they did not even spare a woman journalist, who was sitting in the lawyers' lounge, and forced her to leave the place without any rhyme and reason.
Besides the scribes, advocates and families of victim and accused, the much-awaited hearing and verdict on quantum of sentence was witnessed by the wife and daughter of Justice R S Sodhi, who pronounced the death penalty immediately after the completion of the arguments.
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