Who is Dara Singh, killer of Australian missionary who says he ‘repents’ and wants court to free him?

In 2022, a Right-wing news channel editor sat on dharna when jail authorities denied a meeting with him. Rabdinra Pal Singh alias Dara Singh now says he ‘regrets the transgressions perpetrated more than two decades ago’

Kolkata, March 20, dmanewsdesk: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Odisha government to decide the remission plea of Dara Singh, the man who led the mob that burnt alive Australian missionary Graham Staines and his sons 11-year-old Philip and 6-year-old Timothy in 1999.

Dara Singh, whose actual name is Ravindra Pal Singh, is serving a life sentence for the murders.

The petitioner acknowledges and deeply regrets the transgressions perpetrated more than two decades ago. In the fervour of youth, fuelled by impassioned reactions to the brutal history of India, the petitioner’s psyche momentarily lost restraint,” his plea says, as reported by PTI.

“It is imperative for the court to scrutinise not merely the actions but the underlying intent, noting that there was no personal animosity harboured towards any victim,” it adds.

In the plea to court, Singh, 61, has reportedly prayed for an opportunity to reform his character saying that he believes in the Karmic philosophy, and he wants remission to cure the effects of bad Karma he has gained through his actions. He also assured to “give back to the society” through “service-oriented actions”.

In 2003, four years after the Staines family was burnt in their wagon, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court had convicted and sentenced Singh to death. The Orissa High Court commuted the sentence to life imprisonment in 2005. The Supreme Court in 2011 upheld the high court’s decision.

Mehendra Hembram, an accomplice of Singh, is serving life imprisonment in the case. The high court acquitted 11 other accused due to lack of evidence.

Graham Staines and his wife, Gladys, worked with the Mayurbhanj Evangelical Missionary organisation and cared for leprosy patients. Every year after Makar Sankranti, they would visit Manoharpur, a tribal village, to conduct a jungle camp. On January 20, Graham Staines came to the village and hosted a series of programmes for the two days.

On the night of January 22, Staines and his sons slept in their vehicle outside a church.

A witness, Paul Murmu, said a mob broke the windows of the vehicle, put straw inside and underneath it while beating the vehicle with sticks so that no one could come out. Then they set it on fire.

The case was transferred to the CBI after massive outrage. After a year-long manhunt, on January 31, 2000, Dara Singh was lured by undercover police officers into a trap with the offer of a gun. Two days after his arrest, The Telegraph had reported police officers saying that he was totally composed, ate heartily and hummed a tune.

Many of the accused and convicted in the case were linked to the Bajrang Dal.

Pratap Chandra Sarangi, who was sworn in as a junior minister in the Narendra Modi government in 2019, had been the Odisha convenor of the Bajrang Dal during the murder of the Staines family. Sarangi denied any involvement in the case.

Dara Singh had gained prominence in the area as a fighter against cattle smuggling. He had earlier allegedly murdered a man called Rahman, a Muslim cattle trader and a catholic priest Aul Doss. He had confessed in police custody but later retracted it.

Asked by India Today in an interview inside Baripada jail in 2000 if he regretted the death of the Staines boys, Singh said: “I have no regrets. I will never regret…..When Hindus die, others don’t cry. Why should we weep when others die? Whatever has happened is right. Whatever will happen will also be right.”

He had said once he was freed he would “go back to what I have been doing – oppose cow slaughter and conversions.”

Suresh Chavhanke, editor-in-chief of the Right-wing news channel Sudarshan News, had on September 21, 2022 gone to meet Singh in Keonjhar district jail. The jail authorities denied permission for the meeting.

Chavhanke then sat on dharna in front of the jail. Naveen Patnaik’s successor as Odisha chief minister, Mohan Charan Majhi of the BJP, had joined Chavanke.

“Dara Singh has already been in jail for 21 years. It’s illegal to confine him for 21 years. Life imprisonment means one should be released after 14 years,” Majhi seemed to say in a purported video of the dharna.

The Supreme Court has clarified that a life term remains in force till the natural death of the convict, and that while a lifer is entitled to seek remission from the State after 14 years in jail, the grant of remission is not a right.

“Many people who killed our soldiers have been set free…. Why can a man like Dara Singh not be released?” Majhi seemed to say in the video.

The video surfaced last year, two days after Majhi was sworn in as CM.

Advocate Bana Bihari Mohanty, who represented Dara Singh during his trial, had told The Telegraph then that Singh had not applied for remission “because jail authorities were not cooperating with us. Now, we will apply for remission as we expect them to cooperate.”

Congress spokesperson Amiya Pandav had told The Telegraph: “Majhi has an RSS background. With him as chief minister, the RSS is trying to push its agendas, such as the release of Dara Singh.”

Gladys Staines, Graham’s widow, who was awarded the Padma shri in 2005, has said she has forgiven the killers of her husband and sons and that she holds no bitterness against them.

Source: The Telegraph online