The Odisha government informs the Supreme Court of the rejection of Dara Singh’s remission plea, with the court allowing legal challenges to the decision
OdishaPlus Bureau
The Odisha government on Thursday informed the Supreme Court that the State Sentence Review Board has rejected the remission plea of Rabindra Kumar Pal alias Dara Singh, who is serving a life sentence for the 1999 murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons.
The decision was conveyed to a two-judge bench comprising Justice Manoj Misra and Justice Vijay Bishnoi during the hearing of Singh’s plea seeking premature release.
Singh has already spent more than 25 years in prison. His remission plea had been pending before the state authorities, prompting repeated interventions by the Supreme Court.
On September 8, the apex court had expressed strong displeasure over the delay in deciding the plea and given the Sentence Review Board a final opportunity to take a decision. The bench had made it clear that it would not accept any further delay.
Following Thursday’s submission, Singh’s counsel told the court that he would challenge the state government’s decision.
The Supreme Court granted his lawyer two weeks to respond to the rejection and amend the petition, and posted the matter for further hearing after three weeks.
The Sentence Review Board had met on August 31 to consider Singh’s request. According to reports, the Board considered, among other factors, concerns relating to the possible social and communal repercussions of his release.
The latest proceedings do not amount to a decision by the Supreme Court on Singh’s release. The court will now consider the challenge to the State’s rejection of his remission plea.
The case dates back to January 1999, when Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two minor sons were killed in Kendujhar district. Singh was subsequently convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The next hearing will take the legal challenge to the State’s decision forward.
