SC Defers Dara Singh Remission Plea by Three Weeks

Bhubaneswar: The Supreme Court on Thursday deferred for three weeks the hearing on the premature release plea of Rabindra Kumar Pal alias Dara Singh after the Odisha government informed it that the State Sentence Review Board (SRB) had rejected his remission plea.

A division bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Vijay Bishnoi allowed Singh to amend his petition to challenge the SRB’s decision. The Board rejected his remission plea in an order dated August 31.

Singh, 67, is serving a life sentence for the 1999 murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons, Philip, 10, and Timothy, 6, in Keonjhar district.

Staines and his sons were burnt to death after their vehicle was set on fire while they were sleeping.

Singh was sentenced to death by a trial court in 2003. The High Court of Orissa commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment in 2005, a decision subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court.

Singh had approached the apex court seeking consideration of his premature release under Odisha’s 2022 remission policy. He has spent more than 26 years in prison and became eligible for consideration under the policy’s provisions.

The SRB, while rejecting his plea, cited concerns over the possible social repercussions of his release and the potential for communal disturbances, according to reports.

Singh’s counsel, AP Singh, questioned the grounds cited by the Board and said the petitioner would amend his plea to challenge the decision.

“Now, the Court has granted us three weeks’ time. We will amend our petition and give a befitting reply to the Odisha government,” he said.

The Supreme Court had earlier expressed displeasure over the delay in taking a decision on Singh’s remission plea and directed the state authorities to act.

The matter will now come up before the apex court after three weeks.