The 'dead' rise against corrupt UP govt officials

After having succeeded in bringing back at least 33 'dead' persons back to life, the Association of the 'Dead' is all set to raise its voice against rampant corruption in land revenue offices of Uttar  Pradesh, where a few extra bucks could render anyone 'dead' in official records. Getting that rectified was indeed, an ordeal.

On June 30, Uttar Pradesh Mritak Sangh (UP Association of the Dead) proposes to take out a rally for those who fought against this malpractice for years, before they could prove they were actually alive.

"June 30 marks the anniversary of my 'coming back to life' after a 17-year struggle to prove that I was in the land of the living. The sangh has, therefore, decided to observe this day as 'day of the living dead'. We will tonsure our heads and march down the main street in Lucknow, carrying skulls and other human bones," said Mritak Sangh founder-president Lal Bihari 'Mritak'.

"We wish to highlight the fact that corruption is rampant in the land revenue record offices. This is done for the sole objective of usurping someone's land. Our demand, therefore, was to ensure prompt punitive action against those responsible for fudging the records," he added.

"Apart from each of the 33 persons from Azamgarh, my home district, where I started the movement, some more people would be joining me from other parts of the state. Like the others, these people were also being deprived of their legitimate right because official records described them as 'dead'. These people too, were struggling to prove that they were alive," he added.

Lal Bihari was barely nine when he started his fight against such injustice as his own relatives got him declared "dead" soon after his father's demise.

The relatives conveniently usurped Bihari's legitimate inheritance which he could reclaim only after he could prove the records wrong -- after 17 years.