The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Odisha government to decide within six weeks, a petition filed by Bajrang Dal activist Rabindra Kumar Pal, who was convicted to life imprisonment in the murder case of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two children in 1999.
The Bench of Justice Manoj Misra and Justice K V Viswanathan ordered Advocate Shibashish Misra, appearing for the Odisha government, to take a decision in six weeks and apprise the court.
Earlier on July 9, 2024, the Apex Court had issued notice to the Odisha government on the writ petition filed by Pal alias Dara Singh.
The order was passed by the Bench of Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice SVN Bhatti.
Appearing for Singh, Advocate Vishnu Jain submitted that the accused had committed the crime in a “fit of youthful rage” and was now repentant of his acts.
Jain sought pre-mature release for Singh on the grounds that he has already spent 24 years in jail and wanted to go back to society as a reformed person, placing reliance on the reformative theory of punishment.
Advocate Jain cited the Apex Court 2022 verdict, in which the top court of the country granted pre-mature release to those convicted in the assassination case of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
On January 22, 1999, Dara Singh allegedly led a mob to set fire on a wagon at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district, Orissa. Graham Staines and his two sons Philip (10) and Timothy (6), who were sleeping in the vehicle, were charred to death in the incident.
In 2003, the trial court in Khordha sentenced Singh to death, while 12 others were sentenced to life. The Odisha High Court commuted Singh’s death sentence to life in 2005, which was confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2011.
Singh was also convicted and given life sentence in two other murder cases of a Muslim trader and another Christian missionary.