Bhubaneswar, May 24: Seven of the accused in the Graham Staines murder case today walked to freedom following their acquittal last week by Orissa High Court, which had also commuted the death sentence of the main accused, Dara Singh, to life-imprisonment.

But as the seven accused were freed from the Chowdar circle jail in Cuttack, a teenager, Sudarshan Hansda (19) alias Chenchu, continues to languish in prison because the state government has not formed the state juvenile justice board.

Chenchu was just 13 when a mob burnt the Australian missionary and his two sons alive. He was arrested and tried in a juvenile court but now that he is 19 years of age, his case needs to be heard by the board under the law.

But the state does not have a juvenile board as yet and the government does not seem to be in a hurry to set up one.

State home secretary Santosh Kumar said Chenchu has to wait a little longer.

“A board will be formed with experts. When the board is formed, the juvenile offenders will be tried under that. Till the board is formed, there is no provision under any law, which can try him,” he added.

A distraught Chenchu has threatened to commit suicide if his appeal is not heard in the near future.

The young boy is hopeful that like the 11 others who were part of the mob, he too can walk free but says he can do nothing till some court decides to admit his appeal.

Desperate to meet his ailing parents, the young boy has approached local activists who have vowed to fight his cause.

Kasturi Mohapatra, a social activist, says Chenchu’s parents are poor and sick and it is the government’s moral duty now to stop their harassment. His parents have not been able to afford even the bus fare to Angul in the past six years.

Of the 11 accused acquitted by the high court, seven were lodged in Choudwar circle jail in Cuttack. Those who have been released are Mahadeb Mahanta, Suratha Naik, Harish Chandra Mahanto, Thuram Ho, Suresh Hansda, Kartik Lohar and Rabi Soren.

Apart from them, there is another accused, Mahendra Hembram, lodged in the same jail. His life sentence was not set aside because of his sensational confession in the trial court that he had killed the Staines family members.

The acquitted have already chalked out their plans. While some plan to pick up the threads of their ordinary life, others said that they might join politics.

“We were really unhappy. But there is no point in brooding over the past,” said Mahadev Mahanta, who plans to join politics. None of their relatives was present to receive them though.