Graham Staines Murder : Dara Singh's Remission Plea Rejected, Odisha Govt Informs Supreme Court

A Bench comprising Justice Manoj Misra and Justice Vijay Bishnoi was informed by the Odisha State counsel that an order was passed on August 31 rejecting his plea for remission. 

Following this, the bench adjourned the hearing, granting liberty to the petitioner to amend the writ petition to incorporate challenge to the rejection of remission.

It ordered: "The state has rejected the plea of remission with order dated 31.8.26. The learned counsel for the petitioner is allowed to file an appropriate amendment application. List after 3 weeks."

It may be recalled that the bench has adjourned the matter on the last two occasions after it was informed that a decision was yet to be taken. In the last hearing, the bench warned that if no decision is taken on the next date of hearing, it will have no option but to summon the State Secretary for an explanation for the delay.

The convict, Singh, filed the writ petition in 2024,   seeking remission of his sentence on the ground that he has served more than 25 years in prison. As per the State's remission policy, remission may be considered for convicts whose death sentences have been commuted to life imprisonment after completing 25 years of incarceration.

Dara Singh was sentenced to death by the trial court in 2003. In 2005, the Orissa High Court commuted the death penalty to life imprisonment, which was confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2011. In his writ petition, Singh, represented by Advocates Hari Shankar Jain and Vishnu Shankar Jain, submitted that he committed the crime in a "fit of youthful rage" and was now repentant of his acts.

Relying on the reformative theory of punishment, Singh pleaded that he be allowed premature release from prison, to go back to society as a reformed person. He placed reliance on the Supreme Court's 2022 judgment allowing the premature release of the convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

The crime happened on 22 January 1999, at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district, Odisha, when a mob led by Dara Singh set fire to Graham Staines's vehicle in which he and his two sons, Philip (aged 10) and Timothy (aged 6), were sleeping.