Supreme Court Directs Odisha to Decide Dara Singh’s Remission Plea Before August 19

July 15, 2026 : The Supreme Court has directed the Odisha Government to ensure that a final decision is taken on the remission application of Ravindra Pal alias Dara Singh, the life convict in the 1999 murder of Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two young sons, before the next hearing scheduled for August 19.

A Bench of Justice Manoj Misra and Justice Vijay Bishnoi adjourned the matter after the State sought a brief extension, informing the Court that the State Sentence Review Committee was still awaiting certain records necessary to decide Singh’s application for premature release. According to the State, documents from the concerned district court as well as authorities in Auraiya district of Uttar Pradesh, Singh’s native place, are yet to be received.

Recording the State’s submission, the Bench observed that the Committee should complete the exercise once the required records are available. The Court also indicated that the State should make every effort to conclude the process before August 15 so that a final decision is ready before the next hearing.

Appearing for the Odisha Government, Advocate P.V. Yogeswaran informed the Court that the Sentence Review Committee had already considered Singh’s case along with several other remission applications but required the pending records before reaching a final conclusion.

The Supreme Court had earlier, in March 2025, directed the Odisha Government to examine Singh’s request for premature release under the Odisha Premature Release Policy, 2022, following which the matter was referred to the State Sentence Review Committee.

Dara Singh approached the Supreme Court in 2024 seeking remission, claiming that he has completed more than 26 years of actual imprisonment, maintained good conduct in prison and satisfied the eligibility conditions under the State’s 2022 remission policy. The policy provides that convicts whose death sentence has been commuted to life imprisonment become eligible for consideration of premature release after serving 25 years in prison.

The Odisha Government informed the Court that the application remains under active consideration. It also pointed out that Singh’s plea had previously been examined by five Sentence Review Committees, all of which rejected his request, with the latest rejection taking place in February 2024.

In his writ petition, filed through Advocates Hari Shankar Jain and Vishnu Shankar Jain, Singh argued that the offence was committed in a moment of youthful rage and claimed that he has since reformed, expressed genuine remorse and is ready to contribute to society through service-oriented work if released.

Relying on the reformative theory of punishment, Singh contended that continued imprisonment despite completing a substantial part of his sentence defeats the objective of rehabilitation. He further argued that the authorities are legally bound to consider his application under the Odisha Government’s 2022 remission guidelines and that any failure to do so violates his right to personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution. He also relied on the Supreme Court’s decision granting premature release to A.G. Perarivalan in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

The case relates to the night of January 22-23, 1999, when a mob led by Dara Singh allegedly set fire to a station wagon in Manoharpur village of Odisha’s Keonjhar district. Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two minor sons, Philip and Timothy, who were sleeping inside the vehicle, were burnt alive in the incident, which drew widespread national and international condemnation.

The investigation was initially handled by the Odisha Crime Branch before being transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation. A CBI court sentenced Dara Singh to death in 2003, but the Orissa High Court commuted the sentence to life imprisonment in 2005 after holding that the case did not fall within the “rarest of rare” category. The Supreme Court upheld the life sentence in 2011.

Another convict in the case, Mahendra Hembram, was granted premature release in April 2025 after completing 25 years of imprisonment on account of good conduct. Eleven other accused were acquitted by the Orissa High Court due to lack of evidence, while a juvenile accused was tried separately under the juvenile justice law and released in 2008.