To Machang Lalung with love....

Follow us:WhatsappFacebookTwitterTelegram.cls-1{fill:#4d4d4d;}.cls-2{fill:#fff;}Google NewsMachang Lalung is a rich man now. He lives in a remote village of Assam and is a celebrity in his own way.

For the uninitiated let me elaborate. Lalung has spent half a century in the jail for a crime that should have probably got him a year behind the bars. But once in, he was forgotten by all, the judiciary, the jail. He ended up waiting for a trial for around fifty years till somebody discovered him. He is back in his home now and when I met him a month ago, I found him almost senile. Years of living amidst criminals and the mentally deranged had done this to him.

But he is rich. The Supreme Court has today awarded compensation of three lakh rupees and has directed the state to look after his medical expenses.

Good for Lalung. Three lakh will indeed make a great difference to his life, (don't we all know?) He was in his twenties when he went to jail and now is an old man in his late seventies. He couldn't have earned all this money in his entire life, considering he is an illiterate villager living in a far-flung northeast.

I don't know how to express this. How can you lock up a man for fifty years for no crime? In this country of ours even gangsters do not spend that much time inside! But Lalung was an illiterate villager living in the far corner of Assam! Alright that settles it. And this should cheer up those looking to make three lakhs in next fifty years in a similar way.






first published:January 09, 2006, 20:12 ISTlast updated:January 09, 2006, 20:12 IST
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