India, Sept. 8 -- The Supreme Court on Monday ordered the state of Madhya Pradesh to pay Rs.25 lakh as compensation to a man, who languished in jail for more than four years and seven months beyond his lawful sentence.

A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan also directed the Madhya Pradesh State Legal Services Authority to conduct a comprehensive survey across all prisons in the state to ensure that no other prisoner continues to remain behind bars despite having either completed their sentence or been granted bail.

The bench, which had earlier called prolonged incarceration of Sohan Singh -- a rape convict, "quite shocking," came down heavily on the state for its systemic failure. The bench noted that such over-incarcerati...