Bhubaneswar: The Supreme Court has reprimanded the Odisha government for not taking a decision on the remission plea of Ravindra Pal alias Dara Singh, who is serving life sentence for the murder of Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two minor sons in 1999.
As per reports, Singh has sought release on the grounds of having spent nearly 26 years in jail. The court gave the Sentence Review Board a final opportunity and adjourned the matter to September 2. The Board has not yet taken a decision, and the court has adjourned the hearing several times earlier.
It noted that the matter has been adjourned time and again to enable the authority to take a decision on the plea of remission of sentence given to Singh, who has been incarcerated for a period exceeding 26 years.
The bench observed that when the matter was adjourned on July 14, the State Sentence Review Board was in the process of taking a decision on Singh’s plea.
It said the counsel representing the state has now placed before it a letter of the Directorate of Prisons and Correctional Services addressed to the lawyer and stating that a report from the Keonjhar district jail is yet to be received.
While posting the matter for September 2, the bench said the board should take a decision and apprise the court.
