{"id":22992,"date":"2013-01-27T13:28:44","date_gmt":"2013-01-27T19:28:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.drishtikone.com\/?p=22992"},"modified":"2013-01-27T13:28:44","modified_gmt":"2013-01-27T19:28:44","slug":"man-who-spent-19-years-proving-he-was-alive-after-officially-being-declared-as-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/2013\/01\/man-who-spent-19-years-proving-he-was-alive-after-officially-being-declared-as-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"Man who spent 19 years proving he was alive after officially being declared as dead!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Lal Bihari \u201cMritak\u201d is a native of Amilo, in Azamgarh district, Uttar Pradesh, who was born in 1955.<\/p>\n

The \"Alive Dead\" who are struggling to be declared Alive (courtesy: Open Magazine)<\/a>
The \u201cAlive Dead\u201d who are struggling to be declared Alive (courtesy: Open Magazine<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1975, Lal Bihari went to Revenue office in district headquarters, Azamgarh to get an Identity Proof.\u00a0 He was in for a rather rude shock!\u00a0 Officially he was dead in the Government records.\u00a0 Apparently, his Uncle had bribed the officials to have him declared dead officially, so he could get the ownership of just less an acre of Bihari\u2019s ancestral land at Khalilabad.<\/p>\n

He went ahead and formed the Mritak Sangh <\/i>(Uttar Pradesh Association of Dead People), in the Azamgarh district.\u00a0 Interestingly, he found 100 other people like him \u2013 alive and kicking but officially dead \u2013 who joined his organization.\u00a0 The membership of his organization has now grown to 20,000 from all over India!<\/p>\n

Is it tough to declare a living man dead?\u00a0 Well, not in India it seems.\u00a0 It takes just Rs 300.<\/p>\n

Showing a living person as dead is not tough. The victim is usually someone who has been absent from the village on work or, like Lal Bihari, whose mother took him away after the father\u2019s death. Relatives bribe the lekhpal, who notes it on the khatauni (record of those who cultivate and occupy land in a village) that the person is dead and the land is transferred. Kanungos, naib tahsildars and tahsildars, who check the notings, are often in collusion. \u201cThe price of my death was Rs 300,\u201d says Lal Bihari. After he discovered he had \u2018died\u2019, Lal Bihari went to a lawyer, who said, \u201cA dead man has come to me,\u201d and laughed. Neighbours would mock him\u2014\u201cLook, there goes the ghost.\u201d He felt humiliated. Since a court case could take decades, he visited various government departments. He beseeched and quarreled with officials. He filed complaints. In vain. \u201cThe enquiry would be conducted by the very officials who had listed me as dead,\u201d he says. (link<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In fact an NRI had left India for US in 1967 \u2013 Miami \u2013 realized in 1999 that he had been long declared dead<\/a> and his land had already been sold off!<\/p>\n

It took him 19 years to get himself declared Alive!\u00a0 For that, he has had to do so many strange and weird things to draw attention to himself and the fact that he is alive!<\/p>\n

Over the years Bihari tried to attract attention to his situation by various means. He organized his own funeral and demanded widow\u2019s compensation for his wife. In 1980 he added the word \u201cmritak\u201d (\u201cdead\u201d) to his name and signed his letters \u201clate Lal Bihari\u201d. He stood for election against Rajiv Gandhi in 1989 and lost, to prove that he is alive. In 1994 he managed to have his official death annulled after a long legal struggle. (link<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Until now, only 4 \u201cdead people\u201d have been able to annul their own deaths from this Sangh<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Featured Image Credit:<\/strong> Open Magazine<\/a> (shows Lal Bihari with his family members who had declared him dead).<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Enhanced<\/a><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lal Bihari \u201cMritak\u201d is a native of Amilo, in Azamgarh district, Uttar Pradesh, who was born in 1955. In 1975, Lal Bihari went to Revenue office in district headquarters, Azamgarh to get an Identity Proof.\u00a0 He was in for a rather rude shock!\u00a0 Officially he was dead in the Government records.\u00a0 Apparently, his Uncle had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1517,"featured_media":22995,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[284,430,431,4872,1986,2834,3600,3601],"class_list":["post-22992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humour","tag-amilo","tag-azamgarh","tag-azamgarh-district","tag-india","tag-lal-bihari","tag-rajiv_gandhi","tag-uttar-pradesh","tag-uttar-pradesh-association-of-dead-people"],"yoast_head":"\nMan who spent 19 years proving he was alive after officially being declared as dead!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lal Bihari "Mritak" is a native of Amilo, in Azamgarh district, Uttar Pradesh, who was born in 1955. 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