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Dara Singh, the jailed leader of a Hindu mob who killed Graham Staines and his two young sons in 1999, wants an early release.

The Australian Baptist missionaries were burned alive in their station wagon while attending a church camp in the Keonjhar district.

Singh and 13 other Hindu Nationalists torched the car with the belief that by killing the Christians, they were “safeguarding and defending mother India.”

Out of 51 people arrested, 14 were eventually convicted and sentenced to life. Only two of the men served any real time.

In 2005, 11 of the Staines’ other alleged assassins were acquitted, with the court blaming a lack of evidence.

According to India Today, it had also been “alleged that the Staines had spread straw over the vehicle to shield themselves from the cold, which may have caught fire and contributed to the blaze.”

The second man sentenced alongside Singh was Mahendra Hembram.

Hembram was released in 2025, stating he’d been framed.

His comments, however, are contradicted by an AFP account, quoted by a BBC piece in 2002. This recorded Hembram admitting involvement.

The AFP said he took all the blame for the murders, saying, “I had set fire to the vehicle in which Staines was asleep.”

A written submission from Hembram also stated that, “local villagers decided to set Mr Staines’ vehicle alight because they were opposed to what he called Mr Staines ‘exploitative’ policies.”

The impact fits the pattern. For many, to be Indian is to be Hindu.

Hindu Nationalists justified killing Graham Staines because they alleged he was forcibly converting people to Christianity.

What the Wadhwa Commission Found

An official investigation into the Staines’ deaths in 1999, called the Wadhwa Commission, could find no evidence to justify Hindu Nationalist claims.

“The motive for the crime was that there were conversions of illiterate and poor Hindu tribals to Christianity on certain premises,” the final report asserted.

The commission found that the Staines never used force to convert Hindus or impoverished villagers.

While “conversions did take place in Jungle Camps (open-air evangelism retreats), those conversions were not caused by any threat, inducement or duress.”

Their findings also refuted allegations republished by India Today that Graham Staines had contributed to his death by using straw on the car to keep him and his sons warm.

According to the commission, the mob set out to stop Christians by any means necessary.

“Straw was put both inside and under the vehicles and then set on fire.”

As the Wadhwa Commission recalled,

“Staines and his children attempted to come out but were prevented from doing so by the mob,” led by Singh.

“Staines shouted, and children cried. After the vehicles were put on fire, the mob guarded them for about half an hour and watched the Staines meet their gruesome end.”

For context, Staines had been in India for 30 years serving those with leprosy through the Australian Mayurbhanj Leprosy Mission, founded by Baptists in 1896.

Courts, Controversy, and a Retracted Remark

Also known as Ravindra Kumar Pal, Singh was originally sentenced to death for the murders. India’s High Court commuted that sentence in 2005, changing it to life in prison.

Upholding the decision, India’s Supreme Court dismissed Singh’s request for full acquittal in 2011.

As reported by The Hindu, the court also dismissed prosecution requests to restore the death verdict, arguing that the murder of the missionaries did not justify the death penalty.

Bizarrely, the 2011 ruling shows the court appearing to sympathise with Singh “teaching” Christians a lesson, stating,

“The intention was to teach a lesson to Graham Staines about his religious activities, namely, converting poor tribals to Christianity.

“All these aspects have been correctly appreciated by the High Court, which modified the sentence of death to life imprisonment, with which we concur.”

They additionally stated that the prosecution’s case was flawed, arguing that “several persons” accused authorities (the CBI) of using “strong arm tactics to make confessional statements.”

After protests, the Supreme Court justice later rolled back his wording.

The Hindustan Times noted that severe criticism forced the SC “to expunge its controversial observations.”

Their “teaching Graham Staines a lesson” paragraph was replaced with:

“However, more than 12 years have elapsed since the act was committed, we are of the opinion that the life sentence awarded by the HC need not be enhanced in view of the factual position discussed in the earlier paras.”

Now 60, Singh’s latest plea cites 27 years served, correcting “bad karma” and “youthful rage.”

The Times of India added that he has voiced “regrets [about] his actions,” stating that he “has undergone reform during incarceration.”

Notably, UCANews said, the Staines were not Singh’s only victims. He was convicted of murdering a Catholic priest and a Muslim merchant.

The state has until 2 September to make a decision on his release.

Of the 14 men, Sudarshan Hansdah is one of the few to show remorse. He served time as a juvenile for the Staines’ murders.

Although he maintains his innocence, Hansdah told Indian Express in July, “I don’t know what exactly happened. It shouldn’t have happened at all.”

UCAnews quoted him as stating he got “caught up in the carnage,” and fled once he saw the flames from the Staines’ vehicle.

“It was a mob of about 60 people, armed with bows and arrows, sticks, and petrol cans from surrounding villages,” he explained.

Remarkably, Hansdah was baptised in 2025.

Forgiveness and What Comes Next

Shocking the world, Graham Staines’ wife, Gladys, forgave Singh and the Hindu mob, not long after he and his sons were murdered.

Gladys stated the same again in 2003, asserting:

“I have forgiven the killers and have no bitterness because forgiveness brings healing and our land needs healing from hatred and violence.”

Republished in part by The Hindu, she added, “Forgiveness and the consequences of the crime should not be mixed up.”

“God in Christ has forgiven me and expects His followers to do the same.

“The Bible says: ‘To whomsoever you forgive their sins will be forgiven’. Therefore, in the light of eternity, we all need forgiveness of our sins to enter heaven.”

Regarding law and punishment, Gladys effectively stated, “No comment.”

With news of Dara Singh’s potential release, Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) Australian CEO Noah Roet told the Daily Declaration,

“Graham Staines gave over three decades of his life to the people of Odisha, and his sons died alongside him.

“Gladys Staines’ public forgiveness, and her long-standing opposition to the death penalty for her husband’s killers, remains the standard VOM Australia points to when this case resurfaces.

“Whatever the Court ultimately decides on remission, our concern is the same one it’s always been: the ongoing safety of Christians and other religious minorities in Odisha, and that this case is not treated as a political trophy by anyone, on any side.”

Appearing to revere the pair as defenders of India, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) showered Mahendra Hembram with praise, and described his early release as “a good day for us.”

Ideologically aligned with Hindutva and big supporters of Narendra Modi’s Hindu Nationalist platform, the VHP are expected to do the same for Singh.