NEW DELHI: Bajrang Dal activist Dara Singh, serving life imprisonment in the brutal murder of Australian Christian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two minor sons, on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking remission on the ground that Rajiv Gandhi’s killer have been granted mercy and was released from prison.
A two-judge bench of the apex court, led by Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice S V N Bhatti issued notice to Odisha govt and asked it to file a detailed reply on Singh’s prayers and fixed the matter for further hearing after six weeks.
Advocate Vishnu Jain, appearing for Singh, cited the judgement that granted mercy to the convict in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, A G Perarivalan, and said, “I am seeking a direction to be released from jail on this ground.”
Narrating the theory of reformative justice, summarised in the words of the eminent jurist and a former Judge of the Supreme Court Justice V R Krishna Iyer, Singh said, “Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future.”
Singh in his plea said that he “repented” the offences as he was then “overwhelmed by distress at the barbaric deeds inflicted upon India by the Mughals and the British”. He alleged that the state authorities had failed to address several representations sent for his remission and premature release, jeopardising his right under Article 21 of the Constitution.
Singh also pointed out that he has already undergone more than the qualified period of jail sentence of 14 years, as stipulated in the remission policy of April 19, 2022.
This story was originally published in newindianexpress.com. Read the full story here.
