Dara Singh plea for pardon in Staines murder: SC gives Odisha one month to review

Advocate AP Singh (L) and others arrive to address the media after hearing the Dara Singh case outside the High Court in New Delhi on July 14, 2026. Photo credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

The Supreme Court has given the Odisha government a month to decide whether to pardon “repentant” Ravindra Pal alias Dara Singh, who is serving a life sentence for the 1999 murders of Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two minor sons in Keonjhar district.

A bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Vijay Bishnoi posted the matter for hearing on August 19 after the state government sought time.

“Let them also celebrate Independence Day. You have to take a decision by August 15,” the court told Odisha government counsel on Tuesday (July 14, 2026).

The bench had earlier also asked the State Sentencing Review Commission to take up the plea for Singh’s pardon.

“A request has been made on behalf of the state that the matter may be adjourned for a short period as the committee which was to take the decision has requested records and those records are yet to be made available to them,” it said while remanding the matter for further hearing.

“For now, we expect the committee to make its decision,” he added.

A mob led by Singh attacked Staines and his two sons, 11-year-old Philip and eight-year-old Timothy, while they were sleeping in their station wagon and set fire to the vehicle on the night of January 22-23, 1999, in Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district.

Singh, the main accused in the triple murder, was convicted and sentenced to death by a CBI court in 2003. The Odisha High Court commuted his death sentence to life in 2005 and it was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2011.

During its hearing on Tuesday (July 14, 2026), the Bench asked Odisha government counsel PV Yogeswaran about the status of Singh’s early release proceedings.

The defense counsel replied that the committee required certain documents from the district court which were requested.

On March 19 last year, the apex court had asked the Odisha government to decide on the pardon petition.

Singh, 63, approached the court in 2024 seeking early release on the grounds that he had served more than 24 years in prison and “regretted” the consequences of his actions in a fit of “youthful rage”. In his plea, he said he believed in karmic philosophy and prayed for an opportunity to reform his character to heal the effects of the bad karma he had acquired through his actions.

The suit was filed through advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain. Singh sought mercy from the court and assured the court that he would repay the company through “service-oriented actions”.

He also sought a direction to the state government to consider his case under the guidelines for early release of life convicts issued in 2022 in the three cases in which he was convicted.

Singh, who is incarcerated in Keonjhar District Jail, said he has undergone more than the qualifying term of 14 years under the April 19, 2022 policy and has spent more than 24 years of actual imprisonment without parole.

He also said that the relevant authorities have a legal obligation to consider his case for early release under the ‘Guidelines for Early Release 2022’ approved by the Odisha government.

According to him, the authorities did not act in accordance with the rules, thereby jeopardizing his right to freedom enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution.

Singh’s accomplice Mehendra Hembram is also serving a life sentence in the case and 11 other accused were acquitted by the high court due to lack of evidence.

Staines and his wife Gladys worked with the Mayurbhanj Evangelical Missionary and cared for leprosy patients.

Gladys Staines, who received the Padma Shri in 2005, said she had forgiven the killers of her husband and sons and felt no bitterness towards them.

Published – 15 Jul 2026 13:37 IST