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Plight of the Living Dead

Indian farmers declared deceased by unscrupulous relatives must prove they're alive to regain their land
By MICHAEL FATHERS Azamgarh

The eastern fringes of India's Uttar Pradesh state are known as the badlands, a place where hired killers can be bought for as little as $10 and peasant farmers eke out a living on plots as small as a basketball court. Combine these two ingredients--crime and a shortage of agricultural land--throw in a large chunk of greed, mix in some family rivalry and you come up with an ingenious scam. Just head for the nearest Land Registry Office, bribe an official, declare the owner dead and transfer the land to your name.

"I'm here. I'm alive," Lal Bihari told revenue officials after discovering he was listed as deceased in 1976. "That may be so," an unruffled clerk replied, "but according to my books you're dead." It took Lal Bihari 18 years to get his life and his land back. During that time, he added the word Mritak, or Dead, to his name and to prove that he was living sought arrest, tried to run for parliament, kidnapped the son of the uncle who had stolen his property, threatened murder, insulted judges, threw leaflets listing his complaints at legislators in the state assembly and demanded a widow's pension for his wife. Each time he was either beaten up by police or rebuked for wasting officials' time. Unable to make headway, Lal Bihari The Dead sought the company of other ghosts in Uttar Pradesh and found an entire underworld of the deceased and dispossessed. Last month a dozen of them demonstrated outside the Uttar Pradesh assembly to publicize their fate, demanding an official investigation into land registry transactions to prevent others from being robbed.

Lal Bihari is not sure how many members there are in his Association of Dead People. He's vague about its constitution, it has no funds and no one of importance is paying any attention--at least for now. But in his home district of Azamgarh, 220 km southeast of the state capital, Lucknow, Lal Bihari and his association have become a magnet for the dead souls of the region. He receives letters and secret visits from victims or their relatives hoping he can restore their property. "I've heard about you from friends," wrote a young man late last month. "Exactly the same thing happened to my aunt when her husband died. Can you help?"

Like other eastern districts in Uttar Pradesh, Azamgarh is overcrowded. Land, the only source of income and status for most residents, is scarce. Holdings are getting smaller, divided and subdivided as families grow larger. Rich and poor find it difficult to resist stealing land from an absentee uncle, cousin, nephew, widow or any weak and vulnerable relative. The quickest and simplest way is to bribe land records officials--it costs between $1 and $50, depending on the size of the plot and the wealth of the farmer--declare a person dead and grab his share of the property. "It is a clever ploy," says Lal Bihari. "You don't get your hands dirty by committing murder, and yet the person is as good as dead.

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Cases of 'Living Dead' Growing in India

Posted on: Friday, 1 August 2003, 06:00 CDT

As far as the government is concerned, they're dead - and they're not at all happy about it.

Calling themselves "the Living Dead," two dozen people held a last rites Hindu ceremony outside the State Assembly to draw attention to their plight.

All say unscrupulous relatives fraudulently had them declared dead in order to steal their property. They've been struggling for years to get the government to rectify their official standing.

"My son produced a fake death certificate to revenue officials and grabbed my 12 acres of property. The government still refuses to recognize me as alive," said Rashida Bibi, 62, who was declared dead in 1993.

"I have been certified a living person by my village head but still the revenue officials refuse to recognize me as alive," she said.

India's bureaucrats are notorious for doing little work, and corruption is rampant. Many officials and clerks refuse to accept a claim or even talk to a petitioner without receiving a bribe.

The "living dead," having been cheated out of their property, cannot afford to pay bribes or even legitimate fees to get their cases dealt with.

Lal Bihari, president of the Association of the Living Dead, estimated 35,000 people in Uttar Pradesh state have been wrongly certified as dead.

"We have knocked on doors of government officials and police. No one is ready to recognize us as living persons because revenue records declare us dead," he said during the protest Wednesday.

Bihari was declared dead by an uncle 18 years ago, but despite numerous public protests has been unable to get the decision reversed.

David F Mayer