New Delhi. Odisha's review board has rejected the premature release of Ravindra Kumar alias Dara Singh, convicted in the murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons. Odisha government gave this information to the bench of Justice Manoj Mishra and Justice Vijay Bishnoi in the Supreme Court on Thursday. Odisha government's lawyer said that on August 31, an order has been issued to reject the application of Dara Singh for reducing his sentence. Dara Singh was sentenced to life imprisonment. Dara Singh had applied for remission of sentence.
After receiving information from the Odisha government, the Supreme Court postponed the hearing on Dara Singh's petition for three weeks. The Supreme Court has given permission to Dara Singh to file an appropriate amendment petition in his writ petition to challenge the order of not granting remission on sentence. The murder of Graham Staines and his two sons took place on 22 January 1999 in Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district of Odisha. CBI had told after investigation that the mob led by Dara Singh had set on fire the car in which Graham Staines and his son were sleeping. Graham Staines preached Christianity in the tribal areas of Odisha.
The hearing on Dara Singh's petition in the Supreme Court was postponed twice earlier also. At that time, the Odisha government had said that the government has not yet taken a decision on the petition for premature release of Dara Singh. In the last hearing, the Supreme Court had warned that if the decision was not taken by the next date, then it would summon the Secretary of Odisha and seek clarification. Dara Singh had filed a petition in the Supreme Court in the year 2024, appealing for premature release. Dara Singh argues that he has spent more than 25 years in jail. It cited Odisha's policy that prisoners whose death sentence has been commuted to life imprisonment and who have spent 25 years in jail can be considered for premature release. In 2003, Dara Singh was sentenced to death. The Odisha High Court changed it to life imprisonment and then the Supreme Court confirmed it in 2011.