The Hindu : New Delhi News : Long stay in mental hospital annoys court

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Nov 12, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Long stay in mental hospital annoys court

Legal Correspondent

Asks Assam Chief Secretary to submit report

NEW DELHI: Shocked at the plight of a 77-year-old man, who languished in a mental hospital in Assam for 54 years as an under-trial before being released in July this year, the Supreme Court, on Friday, issued notice to the Assam Chief Secretary and the Registrar General of the Guwahati High Court, asking them to submit reports on how such illegal detention could happen.

A Bench of Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, Justice C.K. Thakker and Justice P.P. Naolekar issued the notice, treating a letter, sent by a lawyer enclosing a news report, as a public interest petition. The Bench granted two weeks for reply and directed that the case be listed after three weeks.

F.I. Choudhary, a lawyer from Assam, in his letter to then former Chief Justice, R.C. Lahoti, said Machal Lalung of Mikir Chuburi in Morigaon district was arrested in 1951 for an offence under Section 326 of the IPC (voluntarily causing grievous injuries). Since he was mentally unfit to stand trial, he was sent to the mental hospital. He remained there, asthe case never came up for trial. His release in July came at the intervention of the National Human Rights Commission.

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