Apex court reserves ruling on Staines’ killer’s sentence
By IANSWednesday, December 15, 2010
NEW DELHI - The Supreme Court Wednesday reserved its ruling on a petition challenging an Orissa High Court verdict that reduced to life term the death sentence of Dara Singh, who killed Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons in 1999.
The apex court bench of Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice B.S. Chauhan reserved the verdict on the petition of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) whuich sought restoration of Dara Singh’s death sentence.
Dara Singh has also filed a petition challenging the high court verdict and sought his discharge in the case, claiming the evidence the CBI tendered in the trial court was “weak”.
Dara Singh, whose official name is Rabindra Kumar Pal, is undergoing life sentence for the Jan 22, 1999, killings of Staines and his two children Philip and Timoti in Orissa.
Staines and his two children were killed after a mob of activists belonging to saffron outfit Bajrang Dal set on fire the vehicle they were sleeping in after conducting a missionary camp.
The three were charred to death in Monoharpur village in Orissas Keonjhar district.
Dara Singh was convicted and awarded death sentence by the trial court. However, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the high court.
