The main accused Dara Singh has already challenged his conviction and sentence, while the CBI has filed an appeal against the acquittal of 12 other accused.
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the Central Bureau of Investigation's plea for death penalty to Dara Singh, convicted for burning to death Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons.
A referral hospital that would focus mostly on the marginalised and the vulnerable and those bypassed by development in tribal villages of Keonjhar district was inaugurated in Baripada on Thursday.
The 78-year-old Naveen is on the cusp of creating history. He must win the forthcoming Assembly polls to become India's longest-serving chief minister, a record held by Sikkim's Pawan Kumar Chamling.
The Supreme Court on Friday came out strongly against the practice of conversion, while upholding the life sentence for Dara Singh, who was convicted for burning alive Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons in January 1999. "It is undisputed that there is no justification for interfering in someone's belief by way of use of force, provocation, conversion, incitement or upon a flawed premise that one religion is better than the other," it said.
Expunging the second last sentence of paragraph 43 of the 76-page ruling, a bench of Justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan replaced it by saying, "After 12 years, the life imprisonment given by the high court need not be interfered with."
Gladys Staines, widow of Graham Staines, on Friday expressed satisfaction over the Supreme Court judgement that upheld life term for Dara Singh, who has been convicted for the murder of her husband and two minor sons. Gladys Staines, who has been staying in Australia after the killing of her missionary husband and two sons in 1999, was happy that Dara Singh and his accomplice Mahendra Hembram were convicted in the case.
Prime Minister Modi saw a reflection of himself -- she does not come from a political background, has no lineage, and had a lifetime of personal struggle and sacrifice.
Rabindra Kumar Pal alias Dara Singh, convicted in the killing of Australiam missionary Graham Staines and his minor sons, filed his nomination for Ghasipura assembly constituency in Orissa, a top official said.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused custodial parole to Dara Singh, who is serving life sentence for the murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons, to perform rituals related to the immersion of ashes of his father. A bench comprising justices P Sathasivam and H L Dattu said it cannot grant custodial parole to Ravindra Pal Singh alias Dara Singh, to travel from Orissa to Allahabad for immersing the ashes of his father, who had died in 2003.
Dara Singh, serving a life sentence for the murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines, was on Saturday sentenced to a life term for the killing of a Catholic priest in Mayurbhanj district eight years ago.
Hembrom along with the main accused Ravinder Kumar Pal alias Dara Singh, was found guilty of burning to death Staines and his minor sons, Philip and Timothy, outside a church at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district of Orissa on January 22, 1999.
District Judge Sachidananda Sahu convicted Dara Singh for the murder of garment trader Sheikh Rehman on August 26, 1999 at a market at Padiagada in Mayurbhanj district
Dara Singh, serving a life sentence for the murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons, and 12 others were acquitted on Monday in a case relating to the burning of a truck and murder of its helper.
While Dara had filed an appeal challenging his conviction and the life sentence awarded to him, CBI has sought enhancement of the life sentence.
Dara's sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Sujit Barman Roy and\nJustice Laxmikant Mohapatra.
CBI moved the SC on Monday challenging the Orissa High court's order to reduce capital punishment to life imprsonment for Dara Singh, who burnt alive Australian missionary Graham Staines, and pressed for his death penalty.
In Mayurbhanj shops, business establishments, offices, educational institutions remained open and traffic was normal
Dara Singh, who was sentenced to life for the murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his 2 minor sons, on Tuesday challenged his conviction in the Supreme Court.
She plans to return to Orissa periodically to monitor a referral hospital in Baripada, her husband's dream project, which she had inaugurated on July 8, 2004.
She is the widow of slain Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines.
"I am very happy at the outcome, but I will go to the Supreme Court for acquittal," Dara's lawyer Asit Otta quoted him as saying.
District and Sessions Judge M N Patnaik, while sentencing Dara Singh, the main accused in the murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons, said: "This is one of the rarest of rare cases."
Defence witness Hemalata Karua claimed the event occurred two days before Staines and his two minor sons were burnt to death.
He and 14 others had been accused of looting the Kendumundi weekly market on November 15, 1998.\n\n\n\n
Deposing before district and sessions judge M N Patnaik, investigating officer Joginder Nayak said he had found no link between the Bajrang Dal and the 18 persons chargesheeted in the case.
But Gladys Staines has not decided whether she will permit the making of a film on her slain husband.
If the Congress recovers some of its earlier influence among the Dalits, the BJP will be in a quandary since the Dalits were among the party's latest acquisitions. To lose them will be a disaster for the saffron camp not only in UP, but all over India, observes Amulya Ganguli.
The PM's choice of ministers is interesting, to say the least, says Jyoti Punwani.
In George Fernandes's passing, many will mourn him -- even those who disagreed vehemently with him, writes Aditi Phadnis.
Justice P Sathasivam was on Friday sworn in as the 40th Chief Justice of India by President Pranab Mukherjee.
He dropped those perceived to be non-performers or whose integrity came into question, and also where it was felt they needed to learn a lesson or two in humility.
'A fierce crusader against communalism, George joined hands with majoritarian forces, never to revisit or re-assess his saffron association.' 'He was a Union minister in 1998-2004, a time when people like Graham Staines were lynched in Orissa.' 'On the Gujarat pogrom of 2002, George went on to kind of justify the slashing of pregnant women, by saying in the Lok Sabha that this was nothing new for India.' 'Thus, he was in sharp contrast to what he had himself stood for in the heyday of his political career in the 1970s and 1980s, says Mohammad Sajjad.
'Amit Shah's trajectory seems unstoppable; no wonder some say the day is not far off when he could be pitching for the top job, and that this is only the first step,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
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