Odisha board rejects Dara Singh release plea over communal harmony concern

The Sentence Review Board cited the potential societal ramifications of Dara Singh's release and an August 15 gathering outside Kendujhar district jail

The Odisha State Sentence Review Board has declined to recommend the premature release of Bajrang Dal activist Dara Singh, who is serving a life sentence for the killing of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons, citing concerns that his release could have “societal ramifications” and trigger communal disturbances. 

Australian missionary Graham Staines' family (File pic)

 

The decision, taken at a special meeting of the Board on August 31, comes days before the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear Singh’s plea on September 17. The apex court had directed the Odisha authorities to decide on his remission plea after the matter had been deferred repeatedly.

 

A native of Uttar Pradesh’s Auraiya district, Singh, 67, who is now lodged in Kendujhar district jail, has been in prison for more than 26 years. The Board considered his case under the Odisha government’s 2022 premature-release guidelines, under which he became eligible for consideration after completing 25 years of imprisonment. However, his plea has been pending before the state authorities for several years, with the Sentence Review Board rejecting it on five earlier occasions — November 2016, June 2019, December 2020, January 2022 and February 2023. 

 

The Board, after considering the case and the latest reports received from the district authorities of Kendujhar on August 28, has again declined to recommend the convict's premature release.

 

Although the district authorities of Kendujhar had given a conditional recommendation in March 2025, stating that Singh might be allowed premature release on certain conditions to maintain social harmony, the latest reports did not support his release.

 

"The district authorities have reported that on August 15, a congregation comprising around 200-250 persons associated with Dara Sena assembled in front of the district jail, Kendujhar, in connection with the proposed release of the convict, during which provocative slogans were reportedly raised. In view of all the mentioned facts and circumstances, the Board is therefore not inclined to recommend his premature release at this stage," read the proceedings of the special meeting of the Sentence Review Board. The proceedings have been reviewed by Business Standard.

 

Sources said the Board took note of the August 15 incident while examining the possible consequences of releasing Singh. It also pointed out that the latest district report did not contain a specific recommendation on whether he should be released and was therefore “inconclusive”.

 

The Board’s assessment was that the circumstances surrounding the proposed release remained sensitive, particularly given the history of the case and the apprehension of communal disturbance. The issue of social harmony was also mentioned in earlier decisions rejecting Singh’s remission plea.

 

The decision follows a series of interventions by the Supreme Court, which had expressed concern over the prolonged delay in deciding Singh’s case. On August 19, the court directed the Sentence Review Board to decide by September 2 and inform it of the outcome. The court had made it clear that the state could either accept or reject the plea but could not keep the matter pending indefinitely.

 

Singh had moved the Supreme Court in 2024 seeking consideration of his premature release under the Odisha government’s 2022 remission policy. The apex court subsequently directed the competent state authority to examine his case according to the applicable guidelines.

 

The state Board had deferred the matter in May 2025, taking into account Singh’s convictions in three separate murder cases and seeking additional reports. It deferred the case again in September 2025 and sought a fresh opinion from authorities in Auraiya, Singh’s native district. The Auraiya authorities subsequently supported his premature release in February 2026.

 

The Board also considered Singh’s conduct during his long incarceration. The records placed before it indicate that his general conduct and behaviour in prison have been good. He has not been released on parole or furlough during his imprisonment. His two applications for parole were rejected, one by the Orissa High Court in 2003 and another by the Keonjhar district magistrate in 2012. The prison records, however, showed that Singh went on hunger strike in 2006 and 2008.

 

Singh was sentenced to death by a CBI court in 2003 after being convicted in the Staines murder case. Staines and his sons, Philip, 10, and Timothy, 7, were burnt alive while sleeping in a vehicle at Manoharpur in Keonjhar district in January 1999.

 

The Orissa High Court subsequently acquitted 11 other accused in the case and commuted Singh’s death sentence to life imprisonment in 2005. The Supreme Court later dismissed his appeal against the conviction.