Overview
- The State Sentence Review Board at a special meeting on August 31 decided not to recommend premature release for Rabindra Kumar Pal, known as Dara Singh, saying it was not inclined to grant clemency at this stage.
- The board based its decision on a Kendujhar district report that about 200–250 people linked to a group called Dara Sena gathered outside the district jail on August 15 and reportedly raised provocative slogans, which it said risked communal disturbance.
- Singh has served more than 25 years and became eligible under Odisha’s 2022 remission rules, and prison authorities and the state prison directorate had earlier recommended release on grounds of good conduct.
- The case has a long legal history: a CBI court convicted Singh for the 1999 burning deaths of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons, his death sentence was commuted to life by the Orissa High Court, and the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal.
- The Supreme Court has pressed Odisha for a clear stance and will take up the matter on September 17, a decision that could determine whether the judiciary steps in after repeated state reviews and the 2025 release of co‑accused Mahendra Hembram.