In India, bureaucrats can be bribed to declare living people legally dead.

This trick is quite useful for greedy people who desperately want to inherit a plot of land but someone stubbornly refuses to die and get out of the way. Even better, these bureaucrats stay bought and usually refuse to reverse their decisions, even when the living person forcefully points out that they are still alive.

To fight this dreadfully surreal injustice, the Association of Dead People of Uttar Pradesh has been founded by Lal Bihari. In 1976, Bihari found out he had been declared legally dead when he applied for a bank loan. It took Bihari 18 years to prove to the stubborn bureaucrats that he was actually alive.

Bihari, who has added the word "Mritak" (or "dead") to his name, has successfully continued his quest to help others in Uttar Pradesh. As a result of the case "Association of Dead People v. State of Uttar Pradesh," more than 80 Revenue officials have been punished for falsifying land revenue records in the state's Azamgarh district.

As of March 2001, India Abroad Online reports that Bihari will continue to work for the "legally dead."

Sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/featured_articles/001025wednesday.html

http://www.indiaabroadonline.com/topofweek/march2001/lust.shtml

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