Keonjhar: Mahendra Hembram (51), one of those convicted in the 1999 murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines’ and his two minor sons, was released from prison on Wednesday on grounds of ‘good behaviour’.
Hembram was serving a life sentence.
After his release, Hembram said that he had been falsely implicated as he opposed religious conversion and cow slaughter.
Officials said that Hembram was released as per recommendations of the Odisha State Sentence Review Board, based on the guidelines of its premature release policy. Besides Hembram, 30 others, convicted in different cases, were also released from various prisons in the state.
Staines and his two sons, Timothy (6) and Philip (10) were burnt alive by a mob on January 21, 1999, while they slept inside a jeep in the Manoharpur village of the Keonjhar district. The murders, linked to allegations of religious conversions by the preacher, sparked global outrage.
Hembram was arrested on December 9, 1999. The prime accused in this case, Rabindra Pal Singh, alias Dara Singh, was arrested on January 30, 2000.
Between 1999 and 2000, as many as 51 people were arrested in connection with the crime. While 37 of them were acquitted within three years, a special CBI Court in Bhubaneswar awarded the death sentence to Singh on September 22, 2003. Twelve others, including Hembram, were sentenced to life.
The Orissa High Court later acquitted all the accused, except for Singh and Hembram. On May 19, 2005, Singh’s death sentence was reduced to life by the High Court.
On March 19, the Supreme Court asked the Odisha government to take a call on the plea for premature release of Singh, who is lodged at a separate jail in Keonjhar, within six weeks. The government is expected to take a decision soon.
