Odisha Govt Rejects Premature Release Plea of Dara Singh, Killer of Graham Staines and Sons
New Delhi: The Odisha government has rejected the plea of Dara Singh – the prime convict for the murder of Australian Christian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons in 1999 – for premature release from jail, reported Indian Express.
The State Sentence Review Board has said that it was “not inclined to recommend his (Dara Singh’s) premature release at this stage”.
Earlier, Singh’s release was recommended by the Director General of Police (Prison) after receiving a proposal to the same effect from Keonjhar district authorities.
The latest position of the Board in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled state comes after the Supreme Court on August 19 had asked the Board to take a decision on Singh’s plea for premature release.
“The district authorities report lacks specific recommendation and is inconclusive. In view of all the above-mentioned facts & circumstances, the Board is therefore not inclined to recommend his premature release at this stage,” the Board said in its August 31 proceedings.
The Indian Express report added that on August 15, around 200-250 people associated with “Dara Sena” assembled had outside the Keonjhar District Jail in connection with the proposed release of Singh, and provocative slogans were reportedly raised.
In 1999, Singh led a mob to set the wagon in which Staines and his two sons were sleeping on fire. Staines, who ran a home for lepers, and his two sons were charred to death. In 2003, the trial court in Khordha sentenced Singh to death, while 12 others were sentenced to life. The Odisha high court later commuted Singh’s death sentence to life.
Singh was also convicted and given life sentence in two other murder cases of a Muslim trader and another Christian missionary.
Notably, Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi had in 2022 supported Sudarshan TV’s editor Suresh Chavhanke to demand the release Singh. At the time Majhi was a BJP legislator.
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