Christian groups demand retrial of Staines’ killer, to appeal against HC verdict

New Delhi – The Orissa High Court ruling of May 19 that commuted the death sentence of Dara Singh, who masterminded the brutal killings of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons in 1999, to life imprisonment, has been under flak recently as many Christian groups are protesting against the verdict and are demanding a retrial of the Hindu zealot.

Graham Staines, a Baptist missionary who ran a home for lepers in the troubled Orissa state, was killed along with his two young sons in January 1999, when the jeep in which they were sleeping was torched. Dara Singh, along with 11 others, was charged with the murder. Eventually Singh was convicted and sentenced to death, while the others received life sentences. But the May 19 appeals court decision reduced Singh's sentence to life imprisonment, and acquitted the others charged in the case.

Irked by the decision of the Orissa High Court, many Christian advocacy groups are now urging the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take the initiative and ensure that justice is met.

The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), condemning the judgment, has called for a “retrial” as it felt that many key witnessed connected with the incident were being intimidated by Hindu extremists and hence could not depose before the court.

"I was shocked at the court verdict and want the CBI to appeal again in the apex court," Sajan K George, national convenor, GCIC, said. "The Wadha Commission, which investigate the case, reports that Dara Singh was directly involved in the murder case. Contrary to the commission's findings, the High Court of Orissa gave its verdict commuting the death sentence of the prime accused," he said.

According to George, the verdict has come as a shot in the arm for the Hindu extremist groups that would be encouraged to unleash a new reign of terror in Orissa, where the minority community are not well protected. "After the demise of punishment, [Hindu militant groups] Vishwa Hidu Parishad and Bajarang Dal have threatened Christians. Christians in Orissa have been frightened by the clemency shown to the culprits involved in the Australian Missionary Murder case," he said.

"It is for the CBI, the investigating agency in the case, to approach the apex Court in the matter, but if it doesn't, the GCIC will do so," George warned.

Describing the judgment as "intriguing and disturbing," the All India Catholic Union in a statement has lamented that "the judgment sends out a wrong signal at this juncture when the country is trying to get out of the mess of communal hatred and communal crimes."

Cautioning that the judgment would prompt "criminals to believe that they will not face the law if they harass or even kill Christians," John Dayal, president of the Catholic lay forum, urged the government to ask the nation's supreme court to review the ruling.

The murder case that tugged the conscience of the nation and received global media coverage took place in the night of January 22, 1999 when Dara Singh, alias Ravindra Kumar Pal, instigated a Hindu mob and attacked the Australia missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons who were sleeping in their jeep parked on the outskirts of Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district, Orissa. In the darkness of the night, the mob, led by Dara Singh, torched the jeep, thereby burning the occupants alive.

On June 22, 1999, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chargesheeted 18 persons including Dara Singh for the murder but it was only on January 31, 2000, that Dara Singh was finally arrested in the jungles of Mayurbhanj district, Orissa.

On September 22, 2003, the District and Sessions Court, Khurda, sentenced Dara Singh to death and awarded life imprisonment to 12 others. However, on October 10, Dara Singh challenged the ruling of the lower court in the High Court of Orissa, finally getting a reprieve on May 19.

While delivering its 106–page judgment, the Division Bench, comprising of Chief Justice Surjit Burman Roy and Justice Laxmikanta Mahapatra, stated, “The eyewitnesses never attributed any particular fatal injury to appellant Dara Singh for which he can be held individually responsible for the death of the three deceased persons or for the death of any of them. Evidence against the participants – including Dara Singh – being of identical nature, they were all equally responsible for the three murders. Therefore, no justification is available from the evidence on record to single out Dara Singh for convicting him under Section 302 IPC…the sentence of death thereunder cannot be sustained and must be set aside.”

However, the court went on to add that though the appellant cannot be held individually liable, he can be held “liable vicariously along with others by invoking Section 149 IPC, for the murder of the three deceased persons.”

Calling the evidence furnished by the prosecution against Dara Singh “weak and speculative in nature,” the Division Bench commuted the death sentence of Dara Singh to one that of life imprisonment and acquitted 11 others whom the lower court had awarded life imprisonment in the case stating that the convictions and sentences of the remaining 11 appellants “cannot be sustained as there is no reliable evidence on record as regards their identification.” The Court, however, confirmed the trial court’s decision to award life imprisonment to another convict, Mahendra Hembrum.

Besides the killing of the Australian missionary, Dara Singh is also the prime accused in the murder of Arul Doss, priest of Jambani church in Mayurbhanj district. Fr. Doss had succumbed to arrow–shot injuries when Dara and 21 others allegedly raided the church in 1999 a few months before the murder of Graham Staines.

He is also an accused in two other murder cases that includes the August 26, 1999 incident at Padiabeda weekly market in Mayurbhanj district where a Muslim garment trader, Sk. Rehman was burnt alive and the August 16, 1999 incident at Kendumundi in the same district in which a helper of a truck engaged in the transportation of cattle was killed.

Incidentally, Dara Singh has been portrayed as a demigod in the tribal belt of Orissa ever since his arrest for the Staines murder case. Not only the supporters of Dara Singh have launched a Delhi–based forum by the name Dharmarakhya Shri Dara Sena (Army of Dara, the protector of Hindus), but also, some movie directors, owing allegiance to the saffron brigade, have shown keen interest in making a movie of Dara Singh, portraying him as a legendary hero.