One of the Hindu extremists sentenced to life in prison for burning Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons to death in India 25 years ago was given a hero’s welcome after he was released on 16 April.
Mahendra Hembram is garlanded as Hindus in India celebrate his release from prison.
Mahendra Hembram walked out of Keonjhar jail, freed by the Odisha State Sentence Review Board for “good behaviour”. Hembram, 50, emerged from prison to supporters who garlanded him and chanted the Hindu slogan, “Jai Shri Ram (Hail lord Rama).”
Hembram immediately proclaimed his innocence, though in 2002 he once declared himself the sole culprit for the murders, according to court records.
After his release from the prison, some 200km from Bhubaneshwar, capital of Odisha state, Hembram told reporters, “I spent 25 years in jail after being falsely implicated in an incident related to religious conversion. Today, I have been released.”
The release reopened wounds from one of India’s most shocking hate crimes and turned attention to the pending remission plea of Dara Singh, the main perpetrator who remains imprisoned in the same facility.
Staines, then 58, and his sons Philip, 10, and Timothy, 6, were burned alive while sleeping in their station wagon outside a church building in Manoharpur village, Keonjhar District, on 22 January 1999. The Australian missionary had worked with leprosy patients in Baripada since arriving in India in 1965.
A Hindu mob targeted Staines for allegedly backing religious conversions, according to a retired police officer stationed in Keonjhar that night.
“Accusing Staines of promoting conversion, Hembram allegedly assaulted him and his two children,” the officer reportedly recalled. “The mob was being led by Dara and Hembram, who were raising slogans against Staines. Staines was pleading mercy. Hembram and Dara forced the foreigner and his two children inside their van and set it on fire by pouring kerosene.”
Witnesses reported the victims had spread straw over their vehicle for warmth. When they tried to escape the flames, the mob, armed with lathis (long wooden poles), prevented them from exiting, leading to their deaths. Their skeletal remains were later recovered.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), affiliated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Hindu nationalist parent Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), applauded the release of Hembram. “It is a good day for us. We welcome the government’s decision,” said VHP Joint Secretary Kedar Dash.
Submit a Prayer