>Tadzweil at 09:30, 19 January 2022

2022-01-19T09:30:05Z

New page

{{short description|Indian activist (born 1955)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Lal Bihari Mritak 2022-01-08 at 6.56.22 PM.jpg
| caption =
| name = Lal Bihari Mritak
| birth_name = Lal Bihari Mritak
| birth_date = {{birth year|1955}}
| birth_place = [[Amilo, Azamgarh]], India
| occupation = Farmer, activist, Social Worker
| years_active = 1980-present
| known_for = Fighting for the rights of people who are wrongfully declared dead, was himself declared dead between 1975 to 1994
| awards = [[List of Ig Nobel Prize winners USA|Ig Nobel Peace Prize Winner, 2003]]
}}

'''Lal Bihari Mritak''' (or '''Lal Bihari Mritak''', {{lang|hi|लाल बिहारी "मृतक"}}; born 1955) is an Indian farmer and activist from [[Amilo, Azamgarh|Amilo]], in [[Azamgarh district, Uttar Pradesh]], who was officially declared dead between 1975 and 1994. He fought with [[Indian bureaucracy]] for 19 years to prove that he is alive. Meanwhile, he added ''Mritak'' ({{translation|deceased}}) to his name, and founded ''Mritak Sangh'', the [[Uttar Pradesh Association of Dead People]], to highlight other cases like his.<ref>{{cite journal |title= Plight of the Living Dead|journal=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2054133,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110319045136/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2054133,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 March 2011 |date=19 July 1999 }}</ref>

==Biography==
He was a simple man and lived in a small village of Uttar Pradesh before becoming a well-known personality. In order to apply for a bank loan, Lal Bihari visited the revenue office at [[Azamgarh]] district headquarters to get proof of identity, whereupon he learned that he was officially dead. His uncle had bribed an official to register him as dead, so that he would get the ownership of Bihari's ancestral land at [[Khalilabad, India|Khalilabad]], which measured less than an acre.<ref name=nyt>{{cite news |title=Azamgarh Journal; Back to Life in India, Without Reincarnation| url= https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/24/world/azamgarh-journal-back-to-life-in-india-without-reincarnation.html |work=New York Times| date=24 October 2000| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20090604073150/http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/24/world/azamgarh-journal-back-to-life-in-india-without-reincarnation.html | archivedate= 2009-06-04}}</ref>

Bihari discovered at least 100 other people in similar situations, being officially dead. He formed ''Mritak Sangh'', [[Uttar Pradesh Association of Dead People]], in the [[Azamgarh district]]. He and many other members were in danger of being killed by those who had appropriated their property. Currently, the association has over 20,000 members from all over India. By 2004, they had managed to declare four of their members alive.

Over the years Bihari tried to attract attention to his situation by various means. He organized his own [[funeral]] and demanded [[widow]]'s compensation for his wife. In 1980 he added the word ''Mritak'' ('Dead') to his name and signed his letters "late Lal Bihari". He stood (unsuccessfully) for election against [[Rajiv Gandhi]] in 1989, to prove that he is alive. In 1994 he managed to have his official death annulled after a long legal struggle.

Bihari was [[List of Ig Nobel Prize winners#2003|awarded]] the [[Ig Nobel]] Peace Award in 2003.<ref>{{cite book|last=Debroy|first=Bibek|title=India, redeeming the economic pledge|year=2004|publisher=Academic Foundation|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-8171883486|pages=133–4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0QZRCLeqVBMC&q=Satish+Kaushik%2BLal+Bihari&pg=PA134}}</ref> In 2004 he ran for a seat in the parliament of [[Lalganj, Uttar Pradesh]].

Bihari continues to support other people in similar situations. In 2004, he sponsored fellow Mritak Sangh member Shivdutt Yadav when he contested the election against Indian prime minister [[Atal Bihari Vajpayee]].

==In popular culture==
In 2021, film-maker [[Satish Kaushik]] made a movie about his life and "death",<ref>{{cite news|title=A movie on Lal Bihari ''Mritak''|url=http://entertainment.oneindia.in/bollywood/news/2006/mritak-100406.html|accessdate=19 October 2012|newspaper=Oneindia Entertainment|date=10 April 2006|agency=UNI|location=Lucknow}}</ref> titled ''[[Kaagaz]]'',<ref>{{cite news|title=Satish Kaushik trains his camera on the 'living dead'|url=http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report_satish-kaushik-trains-his-camera-on-the-living-dead_1519348|accessdate=19 October 2012|newspaper=DNAIndia|date=13 March 2011}}</ref> produced by [[Salman Khan]] and Nishant Kaushik under the banner of [[Salman Khan Films]] and The Satish Kaushik Entertainment Production.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hungama|first=Bollywood|date=2019-01-04|title=Salman Khan to produce this Satish Kaushik film based on true incidents : Bollywood News - Bollywood Hungama|url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/salman-khan-producer-satish-kaushik-film-based-true-incidents/|access-date=2020-12-15|language=en}}</ref> It stars [[Pankaj Tripathi]] along with [[Monal Gajjar]] and [[Amar Upadhyay]] and was released on [[ZEE5]] on 7 January 2021.
Reference in movie jolly llb 2 as Sitaram

==See also==

* [[The Late Mattia Pascal]], [[Luigi Pirandello]]'s novel about a man who was officially dead.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-otherstates/mritak-recommended-for-independence-day-award/article3101539.ece ''"Mritak" recommended for Independence Day award''], The Hindu, 7 July 2006
*{{cite journal|last=Singh|first=Abhimanyu Kumar|title=Officially Dead|journal=Motherland|date=24 May 2012|issue=7|url=http://www.motherlandmagazine.com/ghost-issue/officially-dead}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bihari, Lal}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1955 births]]
[[Category:People from Azamgarh district]]
[[Category:People declared dead in absentia]]
[[Category:Activists from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Indian farmers]]
[[Category:Date of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Place of birth missing (living people)]]

Lal Bihari - Revision history

>Tadzweil at 09:30, 19 January 2022