Bhubaneswar/New Delhi: The Supreme Court today issued a notice to Odisha Government after hearing a petition earlier filed by Dara Singh, a convict in the murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons in 1999. The convict had sought a remission of the sentence to his life imprisonment.

The plea was heard by a division bench comprising Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice SVN Bhatti.

In his writ petition, Dara Singh had cited that he has already undergone an imprisonment of nearly 24 years. He committed the crime in a ‘fit of youthful rage’ and was repenant of his acts, informed his legal counsel Vishnu Shankar Jain.

Dara Singh appealed the apex court that he may be allowed a premature release from prison and pleaded saying he relies on the theory of reformative punishment. His early release will help him join the mainstream of society as a reformed person, the convict stated in his petition.

Worth mentioning, Dara Singh was previously sentenced to death by a trial court in 2003. However, Orissa High Court in Cuttack commuted his death penalty to life imprisonment in 2005. The same was confirmed by the top court in 2011.

In another judgment in 2022, the Court had prematurely released the assassins of Rajiv Gandhi.

The much-debated killing had occurred on January 22, 1999, at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district. A mob led by Dara Singh set a Jeep on fire, in which the victim trio was sleeping.