Supreme Court Directs Odisha Govt on Dara Singh Release Plea

AI FEED

The Supreme Court has directed the Odisha State Sentence Review Board to decide Dara Singh’s premature release plea.
The court expressed concern over the delay and asked the Board to place its decision before September 2.
Dara Singh has spent more than 26 years in prison following his conviction in the 1999 Graham Staines murder case.

BHUBANESWAR/ NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has directed the Odisha State Sentence Review Board to take a decision on the premature release petition of Rabindra Kumar Pal, popularly known as Dara Singh, who is serving a life sentence for the 1999 killing of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons.

A bench comprising Justices Manoj Misra and Vijay Bishnoi expressed dissatisfaction over the delay in considering the plea. The court made it clear that the state review mechanism should act without further delay and directed that its decision be presented before the next hearing on September 2.

The development puts the Odisha Sentence Review Board at the centre of a long-running legal process that has already spanned more than two decades.

Dara Singh Premature Release Plea Before Odisha Board

During the hearing, the Odisha government’s counsel told the Supreme Court that a report from Kendujhar District Jail was still awaited.

The court nevertheless pressed for a decision and warned that it could intervene if the Board failed to act. The direction means the state authorities now have a clear deadline before the matter returns to the apex court.

Dara Singh has been in prison for more than 26 years. His case has passed through several stages of judicial scrutiny since the original conviction.

Dara Singh Premature Release Plea Follows Long Legal Battle

A trial court awarded Singh the death penalty in 2003. The Orissa High Court later converted the punishment to life imprisonment in 2005.

The Supreme Court subsequently upheld the life sentence in 2011, holding that the case did not meet the legal threshold of the “rarest of rare” category required for capital punishment.

The current proceedings are separate from the question of the original conviction. The Sentence Review Board must now consider whether Singh qualifies for premature release under the applicable rules and circumstances.

Graham Staines Murder Case Reaches New Stage

The case dates back to January 22, 1999, when Graham Staines and his sons, Philip, 10, and Timothy, 6, were killed while they were inside a station wagon at Manoharpur village in Odisha’s Kendujhar district.

The incident caused widespread shock across India and drew international attention. The subsequent prosecution and appeals became one of the state’s most closely watched criminal cases.

The Supreme Court’s latest order does not itself grant release to Singh. Instead, it requires the competent state review body to make a decision on his premature release request and place the outcome before the court.

That distinction is important because the next stage will depend on the Board’s assessment and the applicable remission framework.