SC asks Odisha to decide remission plea of Dara Singh in Staines murder case

In August 2024, the top court entertained his plea for premature release and sought the response of the state government

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Odisha government to take a decision on the remission plea of Graham Staines’ murder convict Dara Singh within a month after he approached the top court seeking premature release having undergone 26 years of his life term punishment.

In the past, five sentence review committees have considered his case for grant of remission and rejected it. (File Photo)

A bench of justices Manoj Misra and Vijay Bishnoi, which has in the past, granted several opportunities for the state’s sentence review committee to decide on Singh’s plea, adjourned the matter to August 19 after being informed that the committee is awaiting certain documents for taking a final decision.

The bench said, “We deem it appropriate to adjourn the matter to August 19. In the meantime, we expect that the committee shall take a decision.”

During the hearing, the court enquired from Odisha counsel PV Yogeswaran about the status of proceedings with regard to Singh’s premature release.

On earlier dates, the state sought time on the ground that the matter is under consideration.

On Tuesday, Yogeswaran said that the committee required certain documents from the district court. The same will be arranged and sent to the committee.

The bench observed, “You take a decision by August 15. Let him also celebrate Independence Day by then.”

The committee last met early this month when a decision was taken to call for records pertaining to the convict. However, the committee is yet to take a final decision.

Singh, who is officially called Rabindra Kumar Pal, approached the top court in 2024. He was found guilty of burning alive the Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons in Odisha in 1999.

In August 2024, the top court entertained his plea for premature release and sought the response of the state government.

In his petition, he claimed to maintain good conduct in jail and having repented the consequence of his action. He is aged over 62 years and sought benefit of the state’s premature release policy of April 19, 2022, citing his long period of incarceration and good conduct.

He was convicted by a trial court in Odisha in 2003 along with other accused. The Orissa High Court commuted the sentence to life imprisonment in 2005, ruling that the case did not fall within the “rarest of rare” category warranting capital punishment. The Supreme Court upheld that decision in 2011.

In the past, five sentence review committees have considered his case for grant of remission and rejected it. The last such decision was in February 2024.

In his petition, Singh said, “The petitioner, having spent over 24 years (as in 2024) being incarcerated in the prison, has well understood and is repenting the consequences of his action taken in the fit of his youthful rage and at present seeks the mercy of this court so that he can give back to the society through his service-oriented actions.”

As per the policy for remission, he is entitled to be considered for premature release after undergoing 14 years actual sentence. Singh had alleged that his right to life under Article 21 has been infringed as he alleged discrimination on part of the state government to deny him premature release even when similarly placed life convicts had already been released.

The petition states that he “deeply regrets” the transgressions committed by him over two decades ago and blamed it on the “fervor of youth, fueled by impassioned reactions to the brutal history of India” due to which his “psyche momentarily lost restraint.”

He further said there was no personal animosity harbored towards Staines or his two sons. However, he was overwhelmed by distress at the barbaric deeds inflicted upon India by the Mughals and the British, he claimed.