Every year, millions of documents are added to the records of the Indian Bureaucracy as officially filed records. Most of these documents define a person's identity, property ownership and the rights of individuals. For Lal Bihari from the Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh, however, a single document changed the course of Lal's life by taking away his identity.

For nearly 18 years, between 1975 and 1994, Lal Bihari was declared dead in government records, yet he continued to live and breathe. Lal's fight to prove that he was indeed living is not only one of extreme bureaucratic negligence and dysfunction, but also an excellent example of non-violent and humorous political activism, expressed through Lal's two attempts to run against two Indian Prime Ministers: Rajiv Gandhi and V P Singh.

The Death of Lal Bihari

It all began in July 1975, when Lal Bihari applied to his bank for a loan to expand his small weaving business. Typically, to obtain a bank loan, you must provide proof that you own some real estate. To provide this type of proof, Lal Bihari needed to obtain a copy of his land title at the local office of Revenue. When Lal arrived at the revenue office to request his land title, he found that the official records stated that Lal Bihari was dead.

Upon further investigation, Lal determined that his uncle conspired to cut off all contact between him and his family by paying someone within the government to have him declared dead. Lal's uncle believed he would inherit Lal's assets. Thus began an extensive and active fight by Lal for the restoration of his identity.

Why Run for Office? Why the Ballot Box?

At first, Lal Bihari tried everything normal. He filed complaints, staged protests, and even went on hunger strikes. The bureaucracy didn’t budge. To them, the paperwork was gospel. Dead is dead. He realised he needed a bigger move, something no one could ignore. So he turned to elections—the ultimate proof you’re alive in a democracy.

Taking On Rajiv Gandhi (1989)

In 1989, Lal Bihari filed nomination papers to run for Parliament from Amethi, right against Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. His logic? If a dead man can run for office, then the whole system is a joke. If they let him contest, the government had to admit he was alive. He wasn’t interested in winning. He just wanted his existence acknowledged, preferably in some official record. And by challenging the country’s most powerful man, he made sure the media took notice.

Chasing V.P. Singh (1988/1989)

He didn’t stop there. He also filed papers against V.P. Singh in Allahabad. This wasn’t about politics—it was performance art, mocking the red tape that had erased him. He even showed up at rallies on a funeral bier, calling himself a “ghost” seeking justice among the living.

The Birth of the “Association of Dead People”

As the years went by, Lal Bihari discovered he wasn’t alone. Across Uttar Pradesh and India, thousands of people had been “killed” on paper by scheming relatives and corrupt officials.

He decided to fight back, not just for himself. He founded the Mritak Sangh—the Association of Dead People. As a protest, he started calling himself “Lal Bihari Mritak.” The group became a lifeline for others like him, offering legal help and a way to publicly shame officials who took bribes to erase people from existence.

Alive Again and Famous

It took a gruelling 18 years, but Lal Bihari finally won. In 1994, after relentless media attention and a series of headline-grabbing protests, the district magistrate in Azamgarh restored his status: alive, officially, in the land records.

His bizarre journey caught the world’s attention. In 2003, he won the Ig Nobel Peace Prize—a tongue-in-cheek award for ideas that make you laugh and then think. Fittingly, he almost missed the ceremony because the U.S. embassy doubted his identity. But eventually, he got his moment. By then, Lal Bihari was a global symbol of how stubborn, absurd, and yes, sometimes hilarious, bureaucratic systems can be.

The “Paper Murder” of Santosh Murat Singh

Lal Bihari’s fight didn’t end with him. Take Santosh Murat Singh, for example. He worked as a cook for actor Nana Patekar in Mumbai. While he was away, his relatives at home declared him dead and grabbed his 12.5 acres of land.

Santosh heard about Lal Bihari and decided to fight too. For more than 15 years, he lived on Delhi’s streets, protesting at Jantar Mantar. Desperate to prove he was alive, he even tried to get arrested—figuring a police record would be proof enough.

He relied on Lal Bihari’s Mritak Sangh for guidance, following the same “living dead” playbook and using the media to expose how easy it is for powerful people to erase someone.

These cases take forever to resolve, but Lal Bihari’s stubbornness changed things. Thanks to him, Indian courts now examine “death certificates” in land disputes more closely. His battle set a precedent—and gave hope to people who refuse to be erased. In 2021, the incredible story of Lal Bihari was brought to life in a major Bollywood film called Kaagaz (Document), featuring Pankaj Tripathi. This film reignited the conversation around the troubling issue of "Paper Murders," making it a hot topic once again.

Lal Bihari Mritak didn’t run for office just to become a lawmaker; he did it to prove he was a living, breathing human being. By taking on Prime Ministers, he highlighted the ridiculousness of a system that values a mere piece of paper more than a person standing right in front of them.

His legacy lives on through the Mritak Sangh, which continues to advocate for the rights of the marginalised. Lal Bihari showed India that when the system turns its back on you and declares you dead, the only way to "come back to life" is to make so much noise that they can no longer ignore your existence. He transformed his own tragedy into a powerful satire, ultimately giving life back to thousands.

References 

Websites:

• The Guardian: The living dead of Uttar Pradesh
• Times of India: The Mritak Sangh and the struggle of Lal Bihari
• Ig Nobel Prize Official Site: 2003 Peace Prize Winner: Lal Bihari

Books & Documentary:

• The Association of the Dead (Documentary by various independent filmmakers).
• Kaagaz (2021) – Directed by Satish Kaushik (Biopic based on Lal Bihari's life).
• Bureaucracy and Governance in India – Various academic papers citing the "Mritak Sangh" as a social movement against administrative corruption.

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