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'Living Dead' Seek Indian Government Help

Posted on: Thursday, 31 July 2003, 06:00 CDT

Two dozen people who call themselves "the Living Dead" held a Hindu last rites ceremony outside a state assembly this week to protest their plight: being wrongly declared dead and losing their property to conniving relatives and officials.

They said tens of thousands more share their problem in India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh. Figures for the rest of the country weren't known.

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

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

"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," said Lal Bihari, president of the Association of The Living Dead.

"We wanted to tell the world that we are alive," Bihari said during the protest Wednesday.

Bihari's uncle reported him dead 18 years ago. Despite many public protests, he's been unable to reverse the declaration. He ran in two elections against Indian prime ministers - and appeared on the ballot - but says he still hasn't been able to get his property back.

There are 35,000 people in Uttar Pradesh state who been falsely declared dead, he said.

Some protesters shaved their heads. Others conducted rites that Hindus perform after a relative has been dead for 13 days.

Most "Living Dead" cases involve family members who pay corrupt revenue officials to record the false death certificates, said the state's revenue minister, Ghanshyam Shukla.

"Orders have been issued to identify and punish the officials who have deprived these people their human dignity," he said.

Corruption is rampant in the bureaucracy of Indian states and government employees are also known for not doing much work, refusing to file a claim or talk to a petitioner without receiving a bribe. Those who have lost their property cannot afford to pay bribes or even legitimate fees to get their cases dealt with.

Prosecution or punishment of corrupt government officials is very rare.

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