Bhubaneswar: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Odisha government to respond to the petition filed by Dara Singh seeking remission of his life sentence in the murder case of Australian missionary Graham Staines in 1999.
Dara Singh alias Prakash Kumar Pal filed a writ petition seeking remission of his life sentence as he has already spent more than 24 years in jail. Acting on his plea, a bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti issued a notice to Odisha government.
Singh’s advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain submitted that Dara’s crime was an outcome of a “fit of youthful rage” and now he was repentant of his acts.
Dara stated that he wants to go back to society as a reformed person if he is allowed a pre-mature release.
Dara Singh was sentenced to death by the trial court in 2003. Later, Orissa High Court commuted the death penalty to life imprisonment in 2005. The sentence was later confirmed by the apex court in 2011.
On January 22, 1999, a mob-led by Dara set afire the vehicle of Graham Staines in which he and his two sons were sleeping.
