Odisha govt defers decision on remission for Graham Staines' murder convict Dara Singh

Bhubaneswar: The state govt has deferred the decision of remitting the sentence of Graham Staines’ murder convict, Rabindra Kumar Pal alias Dara Singh, who is currently housed in a Keonjhar jail.The State Sentence Review Board (SSRB) of Odisha reviewed the release of around 100 prisoners, who are serving life sentences for various crimes on Friday and has recommended the release of some of them. “The matter of Dara Singh has been deferred with no decision yet,” a senior govt officer said.Earlier, the Odisha govt told the Supreme Court, which has been hearing a remission plea of Dara, that it is under the state’s active consideration.

A life convict, Dara has already served more than 25 years in jail and is eligible for seeking remission of his sentence.In the last hearing on Dara’s writ petition (criminal) in the apex court on Aug 11, solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for Odisha, prayed that the matter be listed in the first week of Oct since the sentence review committee would be holding its meeting in Sept. The hearing is next scheduled for Oct 6.

On March 19, the state govt’s counsel submitted in the SC that the govt was deliberating on the issue and would shortly take a decision on whether to remit the sentence.On the night of Jan 22, 1999, Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons, Philip (10) and Timothy (6), were killed when a mob set fire to their station wagon as they slept outside a church in Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district.Following the incident, Dara Singh was apprehended by the CBI from a forested area in Mayurbhanj district, which borders Keonjhar. He, along with 12 others, was convicted by the trial court on Sept 15, 2003.However, in a subsequent ruling on May 19, 2005, the Orissa high court acquitted all except Dara Singh and Mahendra Hembram. Hembram’s sentence was remitted by the state govt earlier this year in April.