A UNIQUE story of the ‘living dead’ surfaced in India when Lal Bihari ‘Mritak’ (deceased), the man who made the headlines after fighting a long battle to prove he was ‘alive’ after government documents declared him ‘dead’, is in the limelight again.
Bihari has now planned to remarry his 56-year-old wife Karmi Devi since he is now 27-year-old after the government records announced he is alive in 1994. For 19 years prior to that, he was officially declared dead after his uncle hatched a conspiracy to usurp his property. It then took Bihari, who hails from Amilo village in Azamgarh district of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, several years to prove to the law that he is still alive and sought compensation from the government for the years he remained officially ‘dead’.
“I was reborn in government records 27 years ago. The marriage ceremony will be held in 2022, when I will turn 28 after my rebirth in government schools,” Bihari, who is actually 66 now, told reporters.
Bihari wants to remarry wife for a cause
Bihari and his wife now have three children – two daughters and one son – all of whom are married. The man, a farmer and activist, said he wanted to remarry his wife to drawn the attention of people towards the plight of the ‘living dead’ like him.
“Though I fought and won my case, not much has actually changed in the system. I remained ‘dead’ in government records for 18 years. There are still people who have been declared dead and their land has been usurped by relatives in connivance with government officials. I have been helping such victims in the past decades but the campaign must continue,” Bihari, who added ‘Mritak’ to his name and formed the Mritak Sangh (association of dead people) to highlight cases that are similar to his.
Bollywood filmmaker Satish Kaushik made a film this year named ‘Kaagaz’ based on Bihari’s life in which actor Pankaj Tripathi portrayed the role of ‘Mritak’.
We wish all the best to the man who has lived his 20s twice.
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