NEW DELHI, India — A man given a life sentence for the murder of a missionary and his two sons was released from prison in April to a hero’s welcome.
Garlands and Hindu chants greeted Mahendra Hembram, 50, on April 16 when the Hindu extremist was freed for “good behavior” from Keonjhar jail, states Morning Star News.
A religious leader, an activist and a government official all expressed to Morning Star their shock and disgust at the display.
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A group affiliated with India’s ruling party applauded the man’s release.
Hembram was convicted in the burning deaths 25 years ago of missionary Graham Staines, 58, and his sons — Philip, 10, and Timothy, 6. Staines, an Australian, came to India in 1965 to serve people with leprosy in Baripada, Morning Star explains.
The three died Jan. 22, 1999, when their vehicle — in which they had been sleeping outside a church in Manoharpur village — was torched. Though Staines and his sons tried to flee, a mob prevented them from exiting the vehicle.
Morning Star states that a “Hindu mob targeted Staines for allegedly backing religious conversions, according to a retired police officer stationed in Keonjhar that night.”
Fifty-one people were arrested and 37 later were acquitted.
Co-conspirator Dara Singh received a death sentence, which Orissa High Court commuted to life in 2005, says Morning Star. A juvenile who was also convicted was released in 2008 upon appeal.
World Watch
India is No. 11 on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the 50 places most difficult to be a Christian.
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