Azamgarh, India – A small political party in northern India is pushing for the reinstatement of the legal rights of people wrongly declared dead by unscrupulous relatives trying to steal their assets.
The Mritak Sangh, or Association of the Dead, knows it is unlikely to win in the state election in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous and often lawless state.
But Lal Bihari, 48, the party’s founder and president, said he hopes to highlight the plight of thousands who have had their lives taken from them, usually by relatives making deals with corrupt government officials.
Bihari himself was declared dead in 1976 by his uncle, who conspired with officials and took over his property.
“To tell the world I am alive, I lodged complaints with the police,” he said. “My efforts bore fruits, and in 2004 I was declared alive by the government.”
He says at least 40,000 people in the state face this problem.
