Odisha BJP govt makes volte-face over Dara Singh’s premature release

After the Supreme Court’s intervention over the Odisha government’s decision on the premature release of Dara Singh, the prime convict for the gruesome murder of Australian Christian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons in 1999, the State Sentence Review Board issued a statement recanting its earlier stance, stating that it was no longer inclined to recommend his premature release at this stage.

The advisory panel in the BJP-ruled state had previously endorsed Singh’s release in July, while the Director General of Police (Prisons) had also forwarded a supportive proposal based on the Keonjhar district administration’s recommendation.

The Indian Express report further noted that on August 15, around 200 to 250 people associated with “Dara Sena” had assembled outside the Keonjhar District Jail in connection with the proposed release, and provocative slogans were reportedly raised.

However, the apex court directed the authorities on August 19 to reconsider the matter afresh, and the Board subsequently held an urgent review meeting on August 31. Scrutinising the fresh dossier, the members observed that the local administrative findings remained inconclusive, and they formally determined that the surrounding circumstances precluded any grant of executive clemency.

Public disquiet had intensified significantly on Independence Day, for a crowd of around two hundred sympathisers affiliated with the fringe group ‘Dara Sena’ congregated provocatively outside Keonjhar District Jail, and inflammatory slogans were openly chanted in anticipation of his imminent freedom.

Singh originally orchestrated the infamous mob assault in Manoharpur village, wherein Staines and his two young boys were burned alive inside their station wagon, and he was separately convicted for the violent murders of a Muslim trader and another Christian priest.

Although a designated trial court in Khordha originally condemned Singh to the gallows in 2003, the Orissa High Court commuted the capital sentence to life imprisonment, and the Supreme Court later affirmed that modified penalty.

The recent bureaucratic about-turn carries acute political sensitivity, particularly as current Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi had previously endorsed public appeals seeking the convict’s liberation prior to assuming ministerial office.