The Supreme Court was informed on Thursday that the Odisha Government has rejected the remission plea of Dara Singh, who is serving a life sentence for the 1999 murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons.
A Bench of Justice Manoj Misra and Justice Vijay Bishnoi was hearing Singh’s writ petition concerning the delay in deciding his plea for premature release. The State informed the Court that the competent authority had passed an order on August 31, 2026 rejecting his request for remission.
Taking the rejection order on record, the Bench permitted Singh to amend his petition and challenge the State’s decision. The Court recorded that a copy of the order had been supplied to his counsel and granted two weeks’ time to file an appropriate amendment application. The matter has been directed to be listed after three weeks.
Background of the Case
Dara Singh’s conviction arises from the killing of Australian Christian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two minor sons, Philip, aged 10, and Timothy, aged 6, in January 1999. Staines was working among tribal communities in Odisha and had travelled to Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district for a Jungle Camp. On the night of January 22-23, 1999, he and his two sons were sleeping in their vehicle when a mob set it on fire.
Dara Singh was sentenced to death by the trial court in 2003. The Orissa High Court, while upholding his conviction, commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment in 2005. The Supreme Court subsequently upheld the life sentence in 2011.
In seeking premature release, Singh has relied on the reformative theory of punishment, submitting that the crime was committed in a ‘fit of youthful rage’ and that he is now repentant. He has also relied upon the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision concerning premature release of convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.