Bhubaneswar: Mahendra Hembram (51), one of the convicts in the 1999 killing of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons, was released from prison on Wednesday after serving 25 years. Officials said his release was granted on the grounds of ‘good behaviour’.
About The Case
Hembram, who was arrested on December 9, 1999, had been serving a life sentence. Upon his release, he maintained his innocence, claiming he had been falsely implicated due to his opposition to religious conversions and cow slaughter.
According to prison authorities, Hembram was freed following the recommendations of the Odisha State Sentence Review Board, which evaluated his case under the state’s premature release policy. He was among 31 inmates released across Odisha as part of this review.
Staines and his sons—Timothy (6) and Philip (10)—were burned alive by a mob while sleeping in their jeep in Manoharpur village, Keonjhar district, on January 21, 1999. The brutal murders, allegedly triggered by claims of religious conversions by Staines, provoked widespread condemnation both in India and abroad.
Following the incident, 51 individuals were arrested between 1999 and 2000. Thirty-seven were acquitted within three years. On September 22, 2003, a special CBI court in Bhubaneswar sentenced the prime accused, Rabindra Pal Singh alias Dara Singh, to death, and awarded life terms to 12 others, including Hembram. The Orissa High Court later commuted Singh’s sentence to life imprisonment in 2005 and acquitted the remaining accused except for Singh and Hembram.
On March 19 this year, the Supreme Court directed the Odisha government to decide within six weeks on a plea seeking the premature release of Dara Singh, who is currently imprisoned in Keonjhar. The state government's decision is awaited.
