New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: “You can’t keep it lingering like this,” the Supreme Court Tuesday told the Odisha government, asking it to decide on the remission plea of Ravindra Pal alias Dara Singh, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two minor sons in 1999.
A bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Vijay Bishnoi expressed displeasure over the state government’s failure to inform the court whether a decision has been taken on Singh’s remission plea.
“You want to reject it, you do it. You take a decision. We will deal with it. You can’t keep it lingering like this,” the bench said.
The counsel appearing for the State told the bench that a letter seeking adjournment has been circulated in the matter as the advocate-on-record was unwell.
Referring to its August 19 order passed in the matter, the bench said it had directed the State Sentence Review Board to take a decision and apprise the court of it.
“Last time also, time was granted to decide on the application. You convey to us the decision,” the bench said, adding that the top court had specifically said in its August 19 order that the authority decide on the remission plea.
“You can’t avoid taking a decision. For two years, you are delaying the matter. Yes or no, you take a decision,” the bench said.
The counsel appearing for the state requested the bench to list the matter for hearing September 17.
“We are not going to adjourn it on the next date,” the bench said, adding, “You take a decision and inform us, or we will summon your officer”.
The court posted the matter for hearing September 17 and directed the respondent to inform it about the decision taken pursuant to its August 19 order.
While hearing the matter August 19, the top court had pulled up the Odisha government for not taking a decision on Singh’s remission plea.
It had noted that the matter had been adjourned repeatedly to enable the authority to take a decision on Singh’s plea for remission of sentence. Singh, 63, has been incarcerated for more than 26 years.
He approached the top court in 2024 seeking premature release on the ground that he has served over 24 years in jail and “repented” for his action taken 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 and cure the effects of the bad karma he has accumulated through his actions.
While hearing the matter in July, the top court had given the Odisha government a month to decide on Singh’s remission plea.
A mob led by Singh attacked Staines and his two sons — 11-year-old Philip and eight-year-old Timothy — while they slept in their station wagon and set the vehicle on fire in Manoharpur village of Keonjhar district on the intervening night of January 22-23, 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.
Seeking the top court’s mercy, Singh assured that he would give back to society through “service-oriented actions”.
He also sought a direction to the state government to consider his case in accordance with the guidelines for premature release of life convicts issued in 2022 in the three cases in which he was convicted.
Singh, who is lodged in the Keonjhar district jail, said he had undergone more than the qualified period of sentence of 14 years under the April 19, 2022, policy and spent over 24 years of actual imprisonment without remission.
He also submitted that the appropriate authorities were under legal obligation to consider his case for premature release under the “Guideline for Premature Release 2022” passed by the Odisha government.
The authorities, he said, failed to act in accordance with the rules, due to which his right to liberty, as enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution, was jeopardised.
Mehendra Hembram, an accomplice of Singh, is also serving a life sentence in the case. Eleven other accused were acquitted by the high court due to lack of evidence.
Staines and his wife Gladys worked with the Mayurbhanj Evangelical Missionary organisation and cared for leprosy patients.
Gladys Staines, who was awarded the Padma Shri in 2005, said she had forgiven the killers of her husband and sons, and held no bitterness against them.