The Dara Singh remission plea Supreme Court case moved forward after the Supreme Court directed the Odisha Government to decide Ravindra Pal alias Dara Singh’s premature release application by August 19, 2026. The Court granted the State one final opportunity to complete the review process. Dara Singh is serving a life sentence for the 1999 killing of Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two sons.
Supreme Court Grants Final Deadline
A Bench of Justice Manoj Misra and Justice Vijay Bishnoi heard the matter.
The Odisha Government sought more time to complete the review. It informed the Court that the Sentence Review Committee was still waiting for records from the concerned trial court.
The Bench accepted the request but directed the State to complete the process before the next hearing. During the hearing, the judges also observed that the Government should try to decide the application by August 15 so the prisoner could benefit from the outcome before Independence Day, if eligible.
Why the State Sought More Time
Advocate P.V. Yogeswaran, appearing for Odisha, submitted that the Sentence Review Committee needed additional judicial records before reaching a final decision.
The committee had already met in July to examine 56 remission applications, including Dara Singh’s case. However, it postponed the final decision because some documents were still pending.
Advocate A.P. Singh, representing the petitioner, said authorities also required verification reports from Auraiya district in Uttar Pradesh, where Dara Singh originally belongs.
Grounds Raised in the Remission Petition
Dara Singh approached the Supreme Court in July 2024 through a writ petition.
He argued that the prolonged delay in deciding his remission application violated his rights under Article 21 of the Constitution. He also claimed that authorities had granted remission to other similarly placed life convicts.
The petitioner relied on the Odisha Premature Release Policy, 2022. He submitted that he has spent more than 24 years in actual imprisonment and over 26 years after statutory calculations. He also claimed to have maintained good conduct during incarceration.
The petition referred to the Supreme Court’s decision in the A.G. Perarivalan case. It argued that the principles of reformative justice should also apply in his case. Dara Singh expressed remorse and stated that he committed the offence during the “fervor of youth.”
Background of the Case
The case relates to the incident of January 21–22, 1999, in Manoharpur village, Keonjhar district, Odisha.
According to the prosecution, Dara Singh led a mob that surrounded a vehicle carrying Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two young sons, Philip and Timothy. The mob then set the vehicle on fire, resulting in all three deaths.
The investigation began with Odisha Police before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the probe on March 29, 1999.
Trial and Previous Decisions
A CBI court sentenced Dara Singh to death in September 2003. It also sentenced 12 co-accused to life imprisonment.
In May 2005, the Orissa High Court commuted Dara Singh’s death sentence to life imprisonment. The High Court held that the case did not fall within the “rarest of rare” category. It also acquitted 11 co-accused.
The Supreme Court upheld the life sentence in January 2011.
Since then, five Sentence Review Committees have rejected his requests for premature release. The latest rejection came in February 2024.
Next Hearing
The Dara Singh remission plea Supreme Court matter will next be considered after the Odisha Government completes its review. The Supreme Court expects the State to decide the remission application by August 19, 2026.
