Dara Singh (Hindu Nationalist) - Supreme Court Verdict

Supreme Court Verdict

In May 2005, the Orissa High Court set aside the death sentence, stating that it could not be demonstrated that any specific action by Singh himself had caused the deaths. On 19 March 2007, the Supreme Court issued notice to the CBI on a petition filed by Mahendra Hembram challenging the Orissa High Court verdict, saying that his confessional statement before the trial court, in which he had said that he killed Graham Staines, should be considered in total.

In August 2005, Singh filed a special leave petition with the apex court, seeking acquittal. He asserted that his case was based on hearsay and circumstantial evidence, claiming that he had not led the killings. The Supreme Court of India admitted his appeal in October 2005. In February 2007, Singh petitioned the Supreme Court to release him on bail, stating that he was the primary livelihood earner in his family, including his dependent 75 year old mother. In October 2007, his petition was denied by the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court upheld the verdict of life imprisonment for Dara Singh, the chief accused, on 21 January 2011. The Supreme Court dismissed the CBI's call for the death penalty, explaining that the death penalty could only be imposed in the "rarest of rare" cases

The Supreme Court bench of Justices P. Sathasivam and B. S. Chauhan stated "Though Graham Staines and his two minor sons were burnt to death while they were sleeping inside a station wagon at Manoharpur, the intention was to teach a lesson to Staines about his religious activities, namely, converting poor tribals to Christianity". The Court stated "Our concept of secularism is that the State will have no religion. The State shall treat all religions and religious groups equally and with equal respect without in any manner interfering with their individual right of religion, faith and worship." Yet, condemning religious conversions, the Court also said "It is undisputed that there is no justification for interfering in someone`s belief by way of `use of force`, provocation, conversion, incitement or upon a flawed premise that one religion is better than the other".