error :java.lang.NullPointerException in searchuser.jsp page

Hi,
I am creating the updateuser.jsp page. For that I create search.jsp where one can serch users and after submitting this page.it should display the updateuser.jsp page where I can update the details of user. Here is my code of searchuser.jsp:

Code:

<% Connection connection = null;
        Statement st = null;
        ResultSet rs = null;
        Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver");
        Connection con = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/mynewdatabase","root", "root123");
     ///  st=connection.createStatement();///
           try {
        rs = st.executeQuery("Select * from user order by useid Asc");
                           while (rs.next())
                                 {
                      %>
                                <option value = "<%=rs.getString("userid")%>" >
                                <%=rs.getString("emailid") + " "+rs.getString("groupid")%>
                                        </option>
                      <%
                           }

                       }
                       finally
                       {
                           if (rs != null)
                           {
                               rs.close();
                               rs = null;
                           }
                           if (st != null)
                           {
                               st.close();
                               st = null;
                           }

                       }
                   %>

but shows error at above marked line as:

java.lang.NullPointerException
org.apache.jsp.searchuser_jsp._jspService(searchuser_jsp.java:91)

Well, whether it is right way to retrive data and shows to user?
Any suggestion is highly appreciated.
Thanks and Regards
Haresh