FROM THE AP ROOM
OCTOBER 24, 09:33 EDT
Ruling Confirms Indian Man Is Alive
By RUPAN BHATTACHARYA
Associated Press Writer
LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Lal Behari threw leaflets into the state
legislature, ran in parliamentary elections, staged a kidnapping and
got himself arrested — all to prove he was, in fact, alive.
For 18 years, Behari battled the courts, government, and his
relatives to show he was not dead. But government authorities
would not take his physical presence as evidence enough.
While fighting his case, Behari found at least 100 other people in
the region were in the same predicament. He established the
``Uttar Pradesh Association of the Dead'' in 1980, and the group
appealed to the Allahabad High Court and the National Human
Rights Commission for help.
Behari was declared officially alive by the district magistrate of
his
hometown, Azamgarh, in 1994. ``It took nearly two decades to
make the authorities accept that he was in fact alive and that his
land could not be taken away, treating him as dead,'' the Human
Rights Commission said in a report on Behari's case.
Sixteen other cases were redressed by state authorities acting
under the court's order. But several dozen people are still fighting
to prove they are alive.
The problem usually arises in property disputes, when relatives or
others connive with local officials to alter records, declaring that
a
property owner is dead. Widows have traditionally been victimized
by their husbands' families in such cases. Under India's ponderous
bureaucracy it can take years, and lots of money, to get the
records corrected.
Until 1975, Behari ran a thriving business selling silk saris, the
traditional attire of Indian women. But a year later, a family
dispute
erupted over property and Behari discovered that he had been
pronounced dead in official records. His cousin had arranged with
officials to alter land revenue documents showing Behari had died,
and the cousin had inherited the family property.
All efforts to correct the wrong failed.
``I even kidnapped my own cousin, asked my wife to claim the
widow allowance, threw leaflets into the Uttar Pradesh assembly
on Sept. 9, 1986. Even though I was arrested, the revenue
records remained the same,'' he said in an interview.
Once his land was restored, however, Behari said he gave it back
to the cousin.
``It was a slap in the face,'' Behari said. ``I did not fight for
land
but against the system. Through the association I am fighting for a
common cause and the fight goes on.''
Paltan Yadav, whose relatives forged revenue records to declare
him dead, was carried through town last year by four other
members of the association in a mock funeral procession. At
intervals, Yadav would rise up and shout ``Save me. I'm alive.''
A banner blaming the land revenue department hung next to
Yadav's bier. Behari says the plan worked, and local officials were
embarrassed into correcting Yadav's records.
Many of those who manage to have themselves declared alive still
must fight to regain physical control of their property.
Computerizing land records would stop local officials from falsifying
documents in small towns, said Punkaj Agarwal, the senior official
in the state's Department of Electronics. He said the process had
begun and would extend to the entire state — ``which will stop all
this nuisance.''
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