Archive · 20 Aug 2026
Supreme Court Presses Odisha Over Dara Singh Remission Delay
Ravindra Kumar Pal, also called Dara Singh, is in prison for killing missionary Graham Stuart Staines and Staines’s two sons in 1999.
He was first sentenced to death, but that sentence was later changed to life in prison.
Pal has spent more than 26 years in prison and has asked to be released early.
He says he regrets what he did and has changed while in prison.
Odisha’s State Sentence Review Board is supposed to decide whether he can be released early.
The board has not yet announced a decision.
Odisha told the Supreme Court that it was waiting for a report from a district jail.
The Supreme Court said that explanation was not enough and ordered the board to decide.
The case will return to the court on September 2.
The Supreme Court criticized Odisha for repeatedly delaying a decision on Ravindra Kumar Pal alias Dara Singh’s remission plea.
The court gave the Odisha State Sentence Review Board until September 2 to decide the plea and report back.
Pal has been imprisoned for more than 26 years for the 1999 killings of Graham Stuart Staines and his two sons.
Odisha cited a pending report from Keonjhar district jail, but the court said that did not excuse the board’s failure to decide.
Pal’s death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the Orissa High Court and upheld by the Supreme Court in 2011.
- Who
- The Supreme Court, the Odisha State Sentence Review Board, the Odisha government, and Ravindra Kumar Pal alias Dara Singh.
- What
- The Supreme Court reprimanded Odisha for delaying a decision on Pal’s remission or premature-release plea.
- When
- The latest hearing took place on Wednesday, and the matter was posted for September 2.
- Where
- The hearing was before the Supreme Court in New Delhi; the 1999 killings occurred in Manoharpur village in Odisha’s Keonjhar district.
- Why
- Pal is seeking premature release after serving more than 26 years in prison, citing his time served, regret, and claimed reformation.
Supreme Court
Odisha Authorities
Responsibility for deciding the plea
Supreme Court
The court said the State Sentence Review Board must make a decision and warned that it could take its own call if the board continued to delay.
Odisha Authorities
The State said it was still awaiting a report from Keonjhar district jail before the process could proceed.
Relevance of administrative communications
Supreme Court
The court said it was not concerned with how state authorities communicated and rejected the pending jail report as an adequate explanation for the delay.
Odisha Authorities
Odisha placed a Directorate of Prisons and Correctional Services communication before the court stating that the report had not yet arrived.
Grounds for premature release
Supreme Court
Pal’s plea cites more than 26 years in prison, no parole, regret, and claimed reformation under the state’s April 19, 2022 guidelines.
Odisha Authorities
The reports do not state that the board has approved or rejected the plea; its decision remains pending.
- Applicant
- Ravindra Kumar Pal, also known as Dara Singh or Ravindra Pal
- Imprisonment
- More than 26 years
- Victims
- Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his sons Philip and Timothy
- Crime date
- The intervening night of January 22-23, 1999
- Original sentence
- A CBI court sentenced Pal to death in 2003
- Current sentence
- The Orissa High Court commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment in 2005, and the Supreme Court upheld that decision in 2011
- Next hearing
- September 2
- Reported ages
- The reports differ: two identify Philip as 11 and Timothy as 8, while another identifies them as 10 and 6
