Graham Staines murder: SC gives Odisha final chance to decide on convict’s early release

The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave the Odisha government a final opportunity to decide on the premature release of Bajrang Dal member Dara Singh, who is serving a life sentence for the 1999 murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons, Live Law reported.

It verbally stated that if the Odisha Sentence Review Board did not decide on the matter by the next hearing, the court would take the decision.

During the previous hearing on July 14, the court had asked the Odisha government to decide on Singh’s remission plea by August 19. However, a bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Vijay Bishnoi was told on Wednesday that no decision has been taken yet, Live Law reported.

Staines and his minor sons were burnt to death by a mob led by Singh in Odisha in January 1999 when they were sleeping in a jeep. The attackers had accused the missionary of illegal religious conversion.

Singh was among the 14 persons convicted in 2003 by a special Central Bureau of Investigation court. He was sentenced to death by the CBI court, but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 2005 by the Orissa High Court.

The Supreme Court had upheld Singh’s conviction in 2011.

During the hearing on Wednesday, the lawyer for the Odisha government said that as per the police...

Read more