Graham Staines murder: Supreme Court pulls up sentence review board for delay in deciding convict's remission plea

The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Odisha State Sentence Review Board for delaying its decision on a remission plea filed by Dara Singh, who is serving a life sentence for the 1999 murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons [Rabindra Kumar Pal @ Dara Singh v. State of Odisha].

A Bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Vijay Bishnoi expressed displeasure over the State’s continued failure to decide the plea despite the matter having been adjourned repeatedly for this purpose.

“You take a decision, otherwise we will take our call. We cannot tolerate this,” the Court remarked.

Dara Singh was part of a mob that killed Staines and his two minor sons in 1999. The mob had set alight a vehicle in which the Staines were taking shelter for the night. The Supreme Court judgment convicting Singh recorded that the intention of the mob "was to teach a lesson to Graham Staines about his religious activities, namely, converting poor tribals to Christianity."

Singh was initially sentenced to death by the trial court. The Orissa High Court subsequently commuted the sentence to life imprisonment, which was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2011.

In a remission petition, Singh stated that he is over 60 years old and has spent more than 24 years in prison. He claimed that he regrets his actions and has undergone reform during his incarceration.

The plea also stated that the offences were committed in his youth amid an impassioned desire to “safeguard and defend Mother India.” Singh also claimed that he had never been released on parole.

The Bench today noted that Singh has been incarcerated for over 26 years now. The Court had earlier adjourned Singh's plea for relief after the State Sentence Review Board (SSRB) told the Court that it was in the process of deciding on his plea for a premature release from prison.

Today, however, the State of Odisha placed before the Court a letter from the Directorate of Prisons and Correctional Services stating that a report concerning Singh’s remission plea was still awaited from the district jail.

“We are not concerned about how you (State) are communicating or to what authority you are communicating with. You just take a decision,” the Bench remarked.

The Court proceeded to give the SSRB one more opportunity to decide Singh's remission plea. The Court hinted that it would take a call in the matter if the SSRB fails to take a decision.

Singh's petition was filed through advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain.

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