India, July 14 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Odisha government to take a decision on the remission plea of Graham Staines' murder convict Dara Singh within a month after he approached the top court seeking premature release having undergone 26 years of his life term punishment.

A bench of justices Manoj Misra and Vijay Bishnoi, which has in the past, granted several opportunities for the state's sentence review committee to decide on Singh's plea, adjourned the matter to August 19 after being informed that the committee is awaiting certain documents for taking a final decision.

The bench said, "We deem it appropriate to adjourn the matter to August 19. In the meantime, we expect that the committee shall take a decision."...