Moved by the story of a 77-year-old man languishing in a jail in Assam for 54 years without facing trial, the Supreme Court on Friday sought a report from the state government on the issue.

Machal Lalung, hailing from belonged to Mikir Chuburi village in Morigaon district of Assam, was arrested at the age of 23 years in 1951 under Section 326 of the IPC for voluntarily causing grievous injuries.

However, he spent his life as an undertrial languishing in Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi Mental Hospital, Tezpur before being released this year.

Ironically, his case never came up for hearing in the last five decades even once.

Treating a letter received by Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal in this regard as a petition, the apex court issued notices to the Assam government through its Chief Secretary and Registrar General of Guwahati High Court directing them to look into the matter and place on record the factual position with regard to the confinement of Lalung for all these years.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal, Justice C K Thakker and Justice P P Naolekar directed them to reply within two weeks after receiving the order.

"The aforesaid matter requires thorough examination," it observed.

The letter written to the Chief Justice of India by advocate F I Chaudhary, a resident of Assam, said he came to know about Lalung from a news report and was willing to assist the court or anybody who will come forward to take up his case.

"As a young lawyer, I believe, in complicated issues like this, the judiciary can only award this man a compensatory peace and give back his forgotten smile before he dies," the advocate wrote to the CJI, adding that Lalung's case involved finer aspect of human rights.