Key Facts

• Dara Singh (real name Rabindra Kumar Pal) was convicted of burning alive Graham Staines and his two young sons in Odisha, India, in 1999.
• Staines was an Australian missionary who worked for 30 years with leprosy patients and local tribal communities.
• Singh and his group accused Staines of forcibly converting poor Hindus and tribals to Christianity.
• Singh was arrested in 2000 and sentenced to life imprisonment; his death sentence was later reduced.
• Singh was also convicted of other violent attacks on religious minorities the same year and received additional life sentences.
• The Supreme Court upheld his life sentence in 2011 but will now hear his petition for release.
• Singh has expressed regret in a petition but previously denied involvement in the murders while stating he opposed Christian conversion efforts.
• The killing of Staines and his sons caused widespread outrage and remains a significant case concerning religious violence in India.