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Catholic clergy in India’s eastern Odisha state are speaking out in opposition to how India’s top court might grant early release to a Hindu activist who was convicted of killing an Australian missionary and his two children by burning them alive in 1999.
Granting remission to murderer and mob leader Dara Singh would send the “wrong message to society that one can go scot-free even after committing such a heinous crime,” Father Dibakar Parichha of the Archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, told UCA News.
Dara Singh, alias Rabindra Pal Singh, has been serving a life sentence since he was convicted of burning alive Christian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons, 10-year-old Philip and 6-year-old Timothy, as they slept in their jeep in the Koenjhar district, according to UCA News. The organization Human Rights Watch reports that Staines had worked for more than 30 years in a leper colony in the Orissa state, and that he and his sons were murdered by a mob of more than 100 people who reportedly poured petroleum on the car and set it on fire. The group prevented the family from escaping and also stopped bystanders from attempting to protect the family. Initially police arrested 49 people in connection to the attack, identifying them as members of the Bajrang Dal.
“Police also claimed that they had a photo of Dara Singh, the leader of the mob and active member of the Bajrang Dal who had been leading a campaign against conversions by Christian missionaries in surrounding areas,” Human Rights Watch added.
Fr. Parichha told UCA News that Singh is serving life sentences for two cases related to the murders of 35-year-old Father Arul Doss and Sheikh Rahaman, a Muslim garment trader.
Singh was convicted of the murder of the Staines family and sentenced to death in 2003, but the Orissa High Court commuted his sentence two years later to a life term, according to UCA News. In July 2024, Dara Singh sought remission from the life sentence from the Supreme Court, with his lawyer saying that Singh had “repented,” UCA News reported. The outlet added that Singh says he is repenting and committed the crime in a “fit of youthful rage.”
The next hearing on his case is set for Oct. 6.
Father Madan Sual Singh of the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar archdiocese warned that granting early release to Singh would have “given a morale boost to the Hindu activists and their organizations like Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad [VHP or World Hindu Council], who are backed by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party.”
In August, a violent mob reportedly consisting of some 70 members of Bajrang Dal attacked two Catholic priests, two nuns, and a catechist who were leaving a village after a Mass, as CatholicVote reported. Even after police arrived at the scene, the attackers persisted in physically assaulting the Catholics. More broadly, concerns of safety for religious minorities in India have been mounting. In July, the advocacy group International Christian Concern issued a statement calling on Indian authorities to respond to a wave of violent anti-Christian attacks that had recently occurred in the central state of Chhattisgarh.
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