Ravi S. Dhavan, J. - (1.) Submissions in this matter had closed yesterday with every one present at the Bar unanimous on their opinion that in a matter which has now surfaced with such magnitude, it would be the fittest step that it be referred to the National Human Rights Commission under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993. The Court has accepted the contention made unanimously at the Bar.
(2.) The origin of these proceedings rest on a media report highlighted in the TIME magazine, Asia Edition, July 19, 1999, at page 29. The correspondent one Michael Fathers along with Meenakshi Ganguly, apparently made an on the spot enquiry and published an Article entitled "Plight of the Living Dead : Indian Farmers declared deceased by unscrupulous relatives must prove they're alive to regain their land." As the matter is now being sent by the High Court to the National Human Rights Commission, for its convenience the Article as published" is being reproduced : "The Eastern Fringes of India's Uttar Pradesh State are known as the bad lands, a place where hired killers can be bought for as little as $10 and peasant farmers eke out a living on plots as two ingredients--crime and a shortage of agricultural land--throw in a large chunk of greed, mix in some family rivalry and you come up with an ingenious scam. Just head for the nearest Land Registry Office, bribe an official, declare the owner dead and transfer the land to your name. "I am here, I'm alive," says Lal Bihari told revenue officials after discovering he was listed as deceased in 1976. "That may be so", an unruffled clerk replied "but according to my books you're dead." it took Lal Bihari 18 years to get his life and his land back. During that time, he added the word mritak or dead, to his name and to prove that he was living sought arrest, tried to run for Parliament, kidnapped the son of the uncle who had stolen his property, threatened murder, insulted judges, threw leaflets listing his complaints at legislators in the State Assembly and demanded a widow's pension for his wife. Each time he was either beaten up by police or rebuked for wasting officials' time. Unable to make headway, Lal Bihari. The dead, sought the company of other ghosts in Uttar Pradesh and found an entire underworld of the deceased and dispossessed. Last month a dozen of them demonstrated outside the Uttar Pradesh assembly to publicize their fate, demanding an official investigation into land registry transactions to prevent others from being robbed, Lal Bihari is not sure how many members there are in his association of dead people. He's vague about its constitution, it has no one of importance in paying any attention at least for now. But in his home district of Azamgarh, 220 km. south east of the State capital Lucknow. Lal Bihari and his association have become a magnet for the dead souls of the region. He receives letters and secret visits from victims or their relatives hoping he can restore their property. "I've heard about you from friends," wrote a young man late last month. "Exactly the same thing happened to my aunt when her husband died. Can you help?" Like other eastern districts in Uttar Pradesh, Azamgarh, is overcrowded. Land, the only source of income and status for most residents is scarce. Holdings are getting smaller, divided and subdivided as families grow larger. Rich and poor find it difficult to resist stealing land from an absentee uncle, cousin, nephew, widow or any weak and vulnerable relative. The quickest simplest way is to bribe land records officials--it costs between $1 and $50, depending on the size of the plot and the wealth of the farmer--declare a person dead and grab his share of the property. "It is a clever ploy," says Lal Bihari. "You don't get your hands dirty by committing murder, and yet the person is as good as dead." Kailash, 50, a landless farm labourer, has moved to Lal Bihari's village. Kailash's second cousins have threatened to kill him if he tries again to claim back the 2,000 sq. m. of land, Inherited from his father, that they stole from him. When he first went to Court to tell the Magistrate he was alive, his cousins beat him. Lal Bihari is trying to revive the case, now lost in India's labyrinthine judicial system. Further complicating his task is that Kailash is not too keen about the effort on his behalf: "It is better to be dead on paper than to be really dead. I think my cousins might actually kill me." Lal Bihari flings open his arms in exasperation. "Most of the people I fight for have no courage at all," he says. "I would not be surprised if they told their relatives I was forcing them to fight." Bhagwan Prasad Mishra, 75, is not afraid to fight. A pillar of the Azamgarh community, he has been officially dead since 1977, when four young nephews who managed a family property transferred a half-hectare of his land to their name. Armed with a rifle. Mishra visited the boys and got them to sign an affidavit admitting they committed fraud and had no claim to the land. The affidavit was filed with the land court and forgotten. Subsequently petitions to have Mishra declared "undead" have been similarly mired in legal procedures. Yet such is the strength of family in this part of India that Mishra holds no grudge against his tormenters. "My nephews show me great respect." he says. Indeed, when Lal Bihari finally recovered his land in 1994, he gave it back to the very uncle who had stolen it. "He was so ashamed he begged me for forgiveness." Not everyone can afford such magnanimity "most victims are widows, or someone sick or simple who are listed as dead." Lal Bihari says, Jhulari Devi, 85, was declared dead and chased from the family farm in the 1970s after the death of a son. Her case has been stalled in the Courts for more than 25 years. Paltan Yadav was pushed off his land in 1988. His relatives mockingly told him. "Paltan is dead. Who are you tilling his land?" Penniless, he become a holy man. Once he gets his land back, Yadav says, he will drop his safron robes of celibacy and find a bride. Says Lal Bihari : These people cannot fight alone. They have no money, no brains and no strength. I now believe it was my destiny that I became a dead man." And if he can help other unfairly deceased souls, that will be more than anyone who is alive in India has bothered to do for them."
(3.) The High Court had taken suo motu notice of this news report and the cause was registered as Writ Petition No. 29806 of 1999 : Association of Dead People through Sri Lal Bihari and another (Lal Bihari himself) v. (1) State of U. P. through the Secretary (Revenue) U. P. Government, Lucknow. (2) Collector, Azamgarh, (3) Registrar, Land Registry Office, Azamgarh, (4) Sub Divisional Officers of the District of Azamgarh. On 21st July 1999, the Court Issued notice of motion to the State of Uttar Pradesh. On that day the Court had appointed two learned senior counsel at the Bar to act as amicus curiae. These were Messrs Suresh C. Tripathi and Prabodh Gaur, Advocates. The Chief Standing Counsel, U. P.. Mr. Ashok Mehta, also appeared in response to the motion which had been issued. At this stage the Court places on record that this case was taken by the Chief Standing Counsel, U. P., in its true spirit as a public Interest litigation, regard being had to the circumstances of the case and the Court appreciates that at no stage the Court get the impression that this matter was treated as an adversary litigation. It was suggested by the Chief Standing Counsel, U. P., that as an initial step the District Magistrate. Azamgarh, may be required to put in repeated news inserts in the local Hindi newspapers, local radio and the local television network announcing throughout the District of Azamgarh that if there be any persons who have been shown in the revenue records as 'dead', but are living and their agricultural holdings have been usurped and possessed Illegally, they may come forward and bring this aspect to the notice of the Pradhan of his village. This information will be carried, by the local administration, and registered with the Chief Judicial Magistrate. Azamgarh, as a complaint in accordance with law, in addition to instituting a first information report. with the police as the law normally requires in such situations.;