`Dead’ men walking in UP

Lal said those who had stolen land from their absentee uncles, cousins, nephews, widows and the poor by declaring them dead in the revenue records, were threatening to kill them almost daily since 25 criminal cases were registered and warrants issued a week ago against 70 beneficiaries. However, the police were hand in glove with those landgrabbers and had not executed any warrants, he added.

Confirming this, Chief Judicial Magistrate of the district S.S. Lal, who is monitoring and inquiring into such cases, said that 16 officers had been identified and the First Information Reports had also been registered against some of them but no arrest had been made so far by the police. CJM Lal said he had already complained to the District Magistrate about the police inaction.

On the directive of Justice Ravi S. Dhavan and Justice B. Dikshit of the Allahabad High Court, 16 revenue record officials who were bribed by these people to declare these farmers dead and transfer their agricultural land in their names have been identified.

These officials include Lekhpals Basudeo Ram, Lalta Yadav, Thakur Prasad, Fateh Bahadur, Bankey Yadav and Ram Chandra Singh, Tehsildar Ram Pher Yadav, Naib Tehsildar Laxmi Kant Pandey, Consolidator Sheo Dhani Ram, Assistant Consolidation Officers Bharat Singh and Laji Rao (dead), Ram Chandra Lal (Retired) and AmarendraSingh, Assistant Settlement Officer B.K. Singh (Retired), Revenue Inspector Samesh Chand and Vidya Shankar Mishra.

The High Court had issued a directive that the officers involved in the racket should be criminally prosecuted. On the directive of the High Court, the District Magistrate has been provided with 10 computers to computerise the land records of the district.

In the district, situated 220 km southeast of Lucknow, land is the only source of income and as the size of families increase it is becoming scarce with division and subdivision of land. The people here often indulge in stealing land from absentee relatives, widows and the poor.

The modus operandi is very simple. They go to the Land Registry Office, bribe revenue record officials, declare the owner of the land dead and grab his or her land.

The CJM said so far 80 cases concerning interpolation of records had been traced and the list had been sent to the District Magistrate for appropriate action. About 30 of them have been declaredalive but only a few like Lal Bihari have so far got back their land, he said.

It took Lal Bihari a total of 18 years to get himself declared alive and get back his land. During the period, Lal Bihari added the word Mritak to his name, formed an organisation of living dead like him, organised a dharna on June7, 1999 before the Vidhan Sabha in Lucknow for justice. The Sangh members had also organised a rally and dharna on October 28, 1999 before the Assembly and had taken out a “funeral procession” to draw the Government’s attention to their plight.

Among those declared alive in addition to Lal Bihari are Bhagwan Prasad, Maha Prasad, Fateh Bahadur, Jhulari, Paltan Yadav, Vimla Kumari, Ansar Ahmad, Mohiuddin, Rajdeyee, Baldutt, Ramai, Manju Ram, Chuli, Sundari Devi and Masood.