ORISSA, INDIA, May 18, 2005: An Indian court has commuted a death sentence handed down to a man convicted of murdering an Australian missionary and his two young sons. The man, Dara Singh, has now been sentenced to life imprisonment. The court also released 11 out of 12 others who had received life sentences for the killings. Graham Staines and his two sons – Philip, who was 10, and Timothy, eight – were burned alive in 1999 in a remote village in eastern India. The killings were widely condemned in India and across the world. After a lengthy trial, 13 people were convicted of their murder in September, 2003. But in a ruling on Thursday, the court said there was no evidence to suggest that it was the individual act of Dara Singh which was responsible for the death of Mr. Staines and his sons. The court said that the charges against 11 out of 12 other people who were found guilty with Mr. Singh have not been proven beyond doubt, and ordered their release. Right-wing Hindus who complained that Hindus were being pressured to convert to Christianity were blamed at the time of the attack. However, an official inquiry into the attack said there was no evidence organized Hindu groups were behind it.
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