Dara Singh, prime accused in Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two sons murder case being produced at District and Sessions Judge court at Bhubaneswar on September 15, 2003. File
| Photo Credit: Ashoke Chakrabarty
The Supreme Court on Tuesday (August 20, 2024) sought the Odisha Government’s response to a plea for premature release filed by Ravindra Pal, alias Dara Singh, who is serving a life sentence for the murders of Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two minor sons in Keonjhar in 1999.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud issued notice to the State Government. They noted that the crime was serious.
Singh, who has served 24 years, has sought a more liberal remission policy to secure premature release.
A mob led by Singh attacked Staines and his two sons — 11-year-old Philip and 8-year-old Timothy — while they were sleeping in their station wagon in 1999. They set the vehicle on fire in Manoharpur village of Keonjhar district late on January 22, 1999.
Singh, the main accused in the triple murder, was convicted and sentenced to death by a CBI court in 2003.
The Orissa High Court commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment in 2005, and it was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2011.