Annual Report 2008-2009 4.144 The NHRC took suo motu cognizance of a press report which appeared in the Asian Age dated 31 March 2008 about a man languishing in a jail for 34 years in Rajasthan. 4.145 In the report received from the Inspector General of Prisons, Rajasthan, it was revealed that one Prabhunath was arrested by the local police on Indo-Pak Border of Srikaranpur and an FIR No. 40/1974 under the Indian Passport Act was registered at Police Station, Srikaranpur. Prabhunath was remanded to judicial custody by the local court and was lodged in Sub-jail, Srikaranpur. On being found insane, Prabhunath was then sent to a Mental Hospital in Jaipur for medical treatment under the court order dated 3 January 1976. He was provided regular treatment at the Mental Hospital in Jaipur. 4.146 The report also stated that the Directorate of Jail, Government of Rajasthan, requested the State Government on 13 March 2008 to issue an order declaring Prabhunath a ‘non-criminal lunatic’, but the Home Department, for this purpose, asked for the court order. On the request of Station House Officer, Srikaranpur, Prabhunath was released on 1 April 2008 vide an order of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Srikaranpur under section 169 Cr.PC. and handed over to his younger brother in his village on 8 April 2008. 4.147 The Commission observed that Prabhunath should have been released immediately after 31 March 1975 when the final report was accepted by the court. Moreover, as per the report and documents received from the Inspector General of Prisons, Rajasthan, the court had maintained that Prabhunath suffered incarceration in the jail for a long period of 34 years for an offence under the Indian Passport Act for which the punishment prescribed was imprisonment of few years. 4.148 The Commission held that prima-facie it had been established that Prabhunath suffered incarceration in jail for a long period of 34 years due to the negligence of the concerned authorities of the Government of Rajasthan. It thus found it a fit case for payment of compensation and awarded Rs. 5, 00,000 as monetary relief to the victim or next of kin within a period of six weeks. 4.149 The proof of payment from the Government of Rajasthan is awaited by the NHRC. 34. 100 Children Killed by Man-eater in Balrampur District of Uttar Pradesh (Case No. 28667/24/2004-2005) 4.150 The case relates to a complaint alleging non-action by concerned authorities to stop the terror created by a man-eater which resulted in killing of 100 children in the forest infested areas adjoining Balrampur District in Uttar Pradesh. It was apprehended that in the garb of killing children by the man-eater, some persons might be kidnapping the children and selling them. 4.151 A report received from the Superintendent of Police, Human Rights, Police HQs., Lucknow revealed that terror had been created by wolves in the forest infested areas adjoining 52