The Supreme Court on Wednesday deferred the hearing on the remission plea of Dara Singh, who is serving a life term for the murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons, to July 14 after the Odisha government sought additional time to decide on the matter.
Court Proceedings
A bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Manmohan adjourned the case after Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj informed the court that the state sentence review board is likely to meet on May 26 to consider Dara's plea for premature release. In the previous hearing on March 19, the court had expected the state to decide on the plea by May 13.
Background of the Case
Dara had filed the remission plea in July 2024. His counsels have pointed to the release of convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case while seeking Dara's release. Dara's advocate, AP Singh, expressed hope that the review board will take a favorable decision as Dara meets all criteria for his release.
Dara, alias Rabindra Kumar Pal, a native of Uttar Pradesh, has spent over 26 years in prison since his arrest by the CBI on January 31, 2000, from a forest area in Mayurbhanj district bordering Keonjhar.
Remission Policy
The state government has placed on record its remission policy dated April 19, 2022, which allows consideration of release for convicts whose death sentences have been commuted to life imprisonment after completing 25 years in jail. The Orissa High Court on May 19, 2005, commuted Dara's death sentence to life imprisonment and upheld the life term of co-convict Mahendra Hembram, acquitting others. The Supreme Court later affirmed the life sentences of both Dara and Mahendra.
Previous Convictions and Releases
Mahendra, now 47, was released in April last year after being granted remission by the state government. As reported earlier, a trial court awarded death sentence to Dara and life imprisonment to 12 others on September 22, 2003, for the killing of Staines and his two sons, who were burnt alive in their station wagon on January 22, 1999.
