The Odisha government informed the Supreme Court that it has rejected the remission plea of Dara Singh, who is serving a life sentence for the 1999 murder of Graham Staines and his sons.
Reader brief
Through the Reader lens: The Odisha government has told the Supreme Court that it rejected the remission plea of Dara Singh, who is serving a life sentence for the 1999 murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons. Singh, 63, had approached the top court in 2024 seeking premature release after serving over 24 years. The court gave his lawyer two weeks to amend his petition and posted the matter for hearing after three weeks. The case stems from a mob attack in January 1999 in Keonjhar district, in which Singh was originally sentenced to death before the punishment was commuted to life imprisonment.
What to watch next
- Whether Singh's counsel files the amendment application within two weeks
- The Supreme Court's hearing after three weeks on the amended petition
- How the court responds to Singh's challenge to the state's rejection of remission