Uttar Pradesh Association of Dead People

The Uttar Pradesh Association of Dead People (Hindi: उत्तर प्रदेश मृतक संघ, Uttar Pradesh Mritak Sangh) is an Indian pressure group based in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh that seeks to reclaim the legal rights of those falsely listed by the Uttar Pradesh State government as being dead.

In the overcrowded regions of Uttar Pradesh, many have resorted to bribing officials to have the owner of a plot of land declared deceased and the title transferred to their ownership. The process to undo this is long, arduous, as well as often hopelessly inefficient and corrupt. The Association seeks to reverse the declarations, call attention to the problem and prevent others from being exploited in similar fashion.

The founder and president is Lal Bihari, who was "dead" from 1976 to 1994 and used the word Mritak Hindi: मृतक (Dead) in his name during the period.

History

Lal Bihari

Main article: Lal Bihari

In 1976 15-year-old Lal Bihari's application for loan in a bank in Azamgarh was denied. The reason given by the bank clerk that the loan was ineligible due to the fact that Lal Bihari was officially dead. The cause of death was learnt soon thereafter to be bureaucratic misconduct and family rivalry. Lal Bihari's uncle had approached a government official with what is believed to be ₹ 1200 (about 20 US$) with the intent of having his nephew declared deceased, the purpose of which to inherit Lal Bihari's circa 1 acre (0.4 ha) of ancestral land holdings.

The proceeding months taught Lal Bihari that such a dualism of legal death with organic life existed in many other cases across the state of Uttar Pradesh and that he, like all other cases, had fallen victim to a common practice of localized corruption. Subsequently, Lal Bihari lost his home.

Formation of the Uttar Pradesh Association of Dead People

Lal Bihari was advised by legal counsel that such a case was very common in the area and that having his death revoked would take years. To build momentum for the legal proceedings he attempted to draw public attention to the case through a number of ways including changing his name to Lal Bihari Mritak - Mritak is the Hindi word for Dead. Bihari also insulted police and government officials, throwing pamphlets at them, trying to engage them in fights and also kidnapping his uncle's child to entice them into arresting him. By arresting him police and officials would have to acknowledge that the person being arrested was living and hence papers would have to be produced for the purpose. Bihari had his wife apply for widow's pension which was denied, and he also contested in Indian general elections for the constituencies against Rajiv Gandhi, and V. P. Singh.

While his attempts to be pronounced alive were failing he did succeed in attracting the attention of thousands of "dead" citizens across Uttar Pradesh. Lal Bihari banded these people together with the creation of the Uttar Pradesh Mritak Sangh (Uttar Pradesh Association of Dead People).

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