Bhubaneswar: The Supreme Court has directed the Odisha government to release Ravindra Pal alias Dara Singh, currently serving life sentence for the murder of Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two minor sons, on or before Independence Day (August 15).
This followed the State Sentence Review Board (SSRB)’s recommendations on his remission plea on ground of ‘good behaviour’. He was among the 56 life convicts, whose cases were taken up for premature release by the SSRB in its July 6 meeting. His release was recommended by the Director General of Police (Prisons) after a proposal from Kedujhar district authorities. The board had previously deferred Singh’s application to seek a fresh report from authorities in his home district of Auraiya in Uttar Pradesh.
Speaking to reporters, his counsel A P Singh confirmed that the apex court has ordered the Odisha government to release Singh from prison on or before Independence Day. However, the detailed court order is yet to be made public.
Interestingly in 2022, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, who was then an MLA from Kendujhar, had sat outside the jail along with Suresh Chavhanke, editor-in-chief of Sudarshan TV, demanding his release.
Singh had approached the Supreme Court seeking remission under a more liberal policy, citing his long incarceration, to ensure his premature release from Kendujhar district jail, while he has already spent over 26 years in different jails after he, along with several others, set fire to a van in which Staines and his sons – Philip (11) and Timothy (7) – were sleeping at Manoharpur, where they had gone to attend a jungle camp and an annual gathering of Christians in the area, on the night of January 22, 1999. He further expressed remorse for his actions, attributing them to a fit of “youthful rage”.
A native of Kokar village in Auriya district of Uttar Pradesh, he has been in jail since his arrest in 2000. He was first sentenced to death by a CBI court in Bhubaneswar in 2003, which was commuted to life sentence in May 2005 by Orissa High Court. The Supreme Court upheld the life sentence in January 2011. His associate and co-convict, Mahendra Hembram, was released on the basis of good conduct in April 2025, after serving around 25 years in jail.
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