As Graham Staines murder convict Mahendra Hembram is released after 25 years in jail, read how a witness had accused the Australian missionary of sexual harassment

On Wednesday (16^th April), Mahendra Hembram, one of the convicts in the killings of Australian Christian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons, was released from jail. Hembram walked out of Keonjhar Jail in Odisha after 25 years.

Alongside Dara Singh, Hembram was accused of involvement in the burning alive of the Christian missionary and his two sons (Timothy and Philip) while they were asleep in a station wagon in Manoharpur. After his release from prison, Mahendra Hembram received a rousing welcome and was garlanded.

According to Jailer Manaswini Naik, the State Sentence Review Board ordered Hembram’s release because of good behaviour as per the rules. “The decision to release Hembram is part of our policy of releasing convicts who have spent 14 years behind bars,” the authorities said.

While the Vishwa Hindu Parishad welcomed Hembram’s release from jail, the Congress party expressed its discontent.

Taking to X, Congress leader Manickam Tagore said, “A hate-fuelled murderer who burned alive Graham Staines and his two little sons is now walking free. Mahendra Hembram’s release is a celebration for Sanghis, but a dark stain on Indian justice. What message does this send?”

Notably, Dara Singh, an activist linked to Bajrang Dal and 12 others, were convicted in 2003 for the murders. On the intervening night of 22nd and 23rd January 1999, Graham Stewart Staines, an Australian missionary and his two sons were all burnt to death while they were sleeping inside a station wagon in a remote village, Manoharpur, in District Keonjhar of Odisha. In this case, Rabindra Kumar Pal alias Dara Singh, an activist linked with Bajrang Dal alongside 12 others, was convicted in 2003.

When Graham Staines admitted to having been carrying out religious conversions in Odisha

Just a year before his murder, Graham Staines noted in his journal that some people on motorcycles hampered his missionary work. The police had even asked Staines to leave the area and informed him that they could not provide him with security due to the elections.

Admitting to his conversion activities, Staines had said, “The first jungle camp in Ranchandrapur was a fruitful one and the Spirit of God worked among the people. About 100 attended, some were baptised at the camp. At present, Misayel and some of the church leaders are touring a number of places where people are asking for baptism. Five were baptised at Bigonbadi.”

Even the Wadhwa Commission report mentions how communal tensions were at their peak in Keonjhar district due to missionary activities and that the Bajrang Dal was not involved in the gruesome murder.

When a witness had said that Graham Staines sexually harassed women

Back in 2003, during a hearing in the Graham Staines murder case, a woman witness, Hemlata Karua, told a trial court that she had converted to Christianity under Staines’s influence and that he had tried to outrage her modesty. She told the judge that she and her husband had been to a church in their village where they met Graham Staines and his wife in October 1998.

Karua alleged that Staines had asked them to convert to Christianity, saying there would not be any financial difficulty for them if they left Hinduism and embraced Christianity. Staines also allegedly invited them to a jungle camp to be held at Manoharpur after Makar Sankranti.

She further claimed that she and her husband were converted to Christianity at the jungle camp on 21^st January 1999, and were given new clothes. They also attended a prayer meeting and a film on Christian faith in the evening that day.

Hemlata Karua had also alleged that they were served beef at dinner, which she refused to eat. She added that she stayed in a hut behind the local church alone while alleging Graham Staines came to the hut that night and attempted to outrage her modesty. She told her husband the next morning, and then they left for their village.

Karua also stated that two days later, she learnt that Staines had been killed and did not report the matter to the police. After 20 days of the incident, she claimed, Staines’s wife visited her to express regret over the incident, TOI reported back in 2003.

However, CBI counsel K Sudhakar claimed Karua had neither visited Manoharpur nor had Staines misbehaved with her.

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