Woman Declared "Officially Dead" Fights 3-Year Battle to Restore Legal Identity in Uttar Pradesh

The clerical error from January 1, 2022, created a series of challenges for Saroj Devi that affected her daily life.

Aligarh:

Saroj Devi, a 58-year-old woman from Uttar Pradesh, has been officially classified as 'deceased' for three years according to government records, despite being very much alive.

Throughout this period, she has desperately attempted to correct this bureaucratic mistake, only to face what she describes as "official apathy" at every turn.

After enduring this prolonged ordeal, local administration officials have finally prioritized Saroj Devi's case and committed to rectifying the error.

The nightmare began in 2022 when Saroj applied for her husband's death certificate. In a tragic twist of bureaucratic incompetence, officials mistakenly issued her own death certificate instead.

This error, officially recorded on January 1, 2022, created cascading complications: her Aadhaar identification was deactivated, and she lost access to essential services requiring identity verification, creating significant hardships in her daily life.

Hailing from Chamar Nagaria village in Khair tehsil, Saroj Devi lost her husband, Jagdish Prasad, in 2020. What should have been a straightforward process to document her husband's passing instead thrust her into an administrative void where she "ceased to exist" in official systems.

Her situation gained public attention on November 15 when she presented her case at a Tehsil Diwas grievance forum, making an emotional appeal to senior officials to restore her official identity and essentially, her 'life' in government records.

Saroj Devi informed officials that she had been shuttling between various government offices ever since the erroneous certificate was issued, but 'administrative laxity' continuously prevented the correction process.

Khair Sub-Divisional Magistrate Shishir Kumar has stated that her case is now being handled with priority.

"The issue is being rectified with urgency," he assured, confirming that the necessary corrections are underway.

For Saroj Devi, it appears that the administrative machinery is finally moving forward, offering hope that she will soon officially regain her 'living' status in government records.