Bhubaneswar: Rabindra Kumar Pal alias Dara Singh, who has been behind the bars for the last 24 years over his conviction in the murder of Australian missionary Graham Stewart Staines and his two minor sons, is unlikely to be released from jail anytime soon with the Odisha government again deferring its decision on remitting his sentence.
The state sentence review board, which met on Friday, to decide on the premature release of around 100 life convicts as per the guidelines issued by the state government in 2022, deferred its decision on his release despite recommendation by the authorities in Keonjhar prison, where he is lodged, as well as the district authorities.
“While the board recommended some for release, Dara Singh’s matter was deferred with no decision yet,” a senior government officer said.
In April, Mahendra Hembram, an aide of Dara Singh and co-convict in the brutal killing of the Australian missionary and his two minor sons in 1999, has secured early release from prison.
Singh, a resident of Kokar village in Auriya district of Uttar Pradesh, has been in jail since his arrest in 2000. He was first sentenced to death by a CBI court in Bhubaneswar in 2003, which was commuted to life sentence in May 2005 by Orissa High Court. The Supreme Court upheld the life sentence in January 2011.
On July 9, 2024, the Supreme Court issued notice to the Odisha government on the plea for Singh’s premature release. Through advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, Singh said he had spent over 24 years in incarceration and “repented” the consequences of his action taken in a fit of “youthful rage”.
Following which, the apex court was informed that his remission plea is under the state’s active consideration.
In the last hearing on Dara’s writ petition (criminal) in the apex court on August 11, solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for Odisha, prayed that the matter be listed in the first week of October since the sentence review committee would be holding its meeting in September. The hearing is next scheduled for October 6.
Sources said that the government is treading carefully to avoid any controversy over the release of Singh.
