Supreme Court warns Odisha over delay in Dara Singh release decision

The Supreme Court on Wednesday criticized the Odisha government for its prolonged delay in deciding on the premature release of Dara Singh, also known as Rabindra Kumar Pal, who is serving a life sentence for the 1999 murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons. The court issued a firm ultimatum, stating that if the state's Sentence Review Board does not reach a decision by the next hearing on September 2, the Supreme Court will decide the matter itself.

A bench comprising Justices Manoj Misra and Vijay Bishnoi expressed strong displeasure over the repeated postponements. "You take a decision, whatever you want to. Otherwise, we will take our own. If you don't take a decision, we will," the bench told the counsel for the Odisha government. The court noted that it could not tolerate the continued avoidance of a decision in the matter.

The case stems from the horrific crime on the night of January 22-23, 1999, in Manoharpur village, Keonjhar district. A mob led by Singh set fire to a vehicle in which Staines and his sons, Philip, 10, and Timothy, 6, were sleeping, burning them to death. The attackers had accused the missionary of illegal religious...