'Will Summon Your Officers If You Don't Decide On Dara Singh's Remission Plea': SC To Odisha

The Supreme Court on Tuesday warned the Odisha government that it could summon its officials if the State Sentence Review Board continues to delay a decision on the remission plea of Ravindra Pal alias Dara Singh, who is serving a life sentence for the 1999 murder of Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two minor sons.

A Bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Vijay Bishnoi expressed displeasure over the delay and made it clear that the State must either accept or reject Singh’s request for premature release. “You want to reject it, you do it. You take a decision. We will deal with it. You can’t keep it lingering like this,” the Bench said, Bar & Bench reports.

‘For Two Years, You Are Delaying The Matter’

The State’s counsel sought an adjournment, saying the advocate-on-record was unwell due to a viral infection. The court, however, pointed out that the matter had already been adjourned several times to allow the State Sentence Review Board to decide Singh’s plea.

Referring to its August 19 order, the Bench said it had specifically directed the board to take a decision and inform the court. “You can’t avoid taking a decision. For two years, you are delaying the matter. Yes or no, you take a decision,” it said.

The court’s sharp remarks reflected its frustration with the prolonged delay. Whatever the State ultimately decides on Singh’s remission plea, the Bench made clear that leaving the application pending indefinitely was not acceptable.

Court Warns Of Summoning Officials

When the State’s counsel said there were no instructions on the matter, the court questioned who would take the decision. The counsel replied that the State Sentence Review Board would have to decide and requested that the case be listed on September 17, when the Advocate General would be present.

The court refused to allow the matter to drift further. “Alright, we are not going to adjourn this. Seek instructions and pass an order. Otherwise, we will summon your Secretary or whoever is in charge right now,” it said.

The Supreme Court listed the case for September 17 and directed the respondent authorities to inform it about the decision taken pursuant to its August 19 order.

The latest hearing puts the responsibility squarely on the Odisha authorities to decide the remission application. The court has not directed that Singh be released. Instead, its concern is that the competent authority must make a decision rather than repeatedly delaying the matter.

More Than 26 Years In Prison

Singh, 63, has been incarcerated for more than 26 years. He approached the Supreme Court in 2024 seeking premature release, saying he had spent more than 24 years in prison and had repented for actions committed in a fit of “youthful rage”.

In his plea, Singh said he believed in karmic philosophy and sought an opportunity to reform his character and address the effects of the bad karma he had accumulated through his actions. He also claimed that he had never been released on parole and assured the court that he would give back to society through “service-oriented actions”.

The plea stated that the offences were committed in his youth amid an impassioned desire to “safeguard and defend Mother India”.

Singh also sought a direction to the Odisha government to consider his case under its 2022 guidelines for the premature release of life convicts in the three cases in which he was convicted.

He submitted that he had completed more than the qualifying sentence of 14 years under the April 19, 2022, policy and had spent more than 24 years in actual imprisonment without remission. He argued that the authorities were legally required to consider his case under the Odisha government’s Guideline for Premature Release 2022 and that their failure to act had jeopardised his right to liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.

The Supreme Court had given the Odisha government a month in July to decide Singh’s remission plea. On August 19, it again pulled up the State for failing to take a decision after repeated adjournments.

The 1999 Graham Staines Murders

Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his sons, 11-year-old Philip and eight-year-old Timothy, were killed on the intervening night of January 22-23, 1999, at Manoharpur village in Odisha’s Keonjhar district.

A mob led by Singh attacked Staines and his sons while they were sleeping in their station wagon and set the vehicle on fire. The Supreme Court judgment in the case recorded that the mob’s intention “was to teach a lesson to Graham Staines about his religious activities, namely, converting poor tribals to Christianity”.

Singh was convicted by a Central Bureau of Investigation court and sentenced to death in 2003. The Orissa High Court commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment in 2005. The Supreme Court upheld the life sentence in 2011.

Mehendra Hembram, an accomplice of Singh, is also serving a life sentence in the case. Eleven others were acquitted by the High Court for lack of evidence.

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Staines Family’s Work In Odisha

Staines and his wife, Gladys Staines, worked with the Mayurbhanj Evangelical Missionary organisation and cared for leprosy patients.

Gladys Staines was awarded the Padma Shri in 2005. She has said that she forgave the killers of her husband and sons and held no bitterness against them.

Singh’s petition before the Supreme Court was filed through advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain.