Death Declaration of person missing in India
28-Mar-2023 (In Civil Law)
As per Section 108 of the Indian Evidence Act, if a person is not heard of for seven years or more, he is presumed to be dead. So you can file a suit for declaration and you will get the declaration from the court. However, you need to take care of a few things in such a case:
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You must have exhausted all the options for finding the missing person such as police complaints, inquiries from blood relatives, friends and advertisement in the newspaper.
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While filing a suit in the civil court for the declaration of death all the documents and newspaper clippings, proof of efforts taken to trace the missing person and an affidavit from close blood relatives stating the entire issue till the date of filing of a suit is to be attached with the suit.
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Once the court has declared the missing person to be dead, the same shall be submitted and recorded in the death register of the Municipal/Taluk office of the area. Then a death certificate will be issued of the person declared to be dead by the civil court.
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The death certificate can then be used in dealing with the movable and immovable properties for the purposes of inheritance or sale, etc.
To avoid any uncertainty for an indefinite period, this time frame of seven years has been provided by the law after the completion of which the misplaced person can be treated dead if he/she does not return back. Although, it does not dictate as to what shall be the effective date of death of the missing person. Ordinarily, a person unheard of for a period of seven years shall be presumed dead on the expiry of the said period and not earlier. However, the presumption of death and its date and place of occurrence is a matter of proof. The date and place of the death of a person who is missing for more than 7 years are determined by the competent civil court/ authority on the basis of oral and documentary evidence produced before them in this regard. Since the Registration of Birth and Death Act and Rules are silent on the question of determination of the date and place of death of a missing person, the date and place determined by the court in a declaratory suit as may be filed for this purpose can be relied upon.
To get a declaration of death of a missing person is a judgment pronounced on the status of a particular subject matter (such as a right on the property or right against the property) and therefore the government has to be a necessary party in the suit for declaration of death. Section 108 of the Indian Evidence Act does not explicitly make it a right that when a person is missing for more than seven years he should be declared dead. It only shifts the burden of proof over the other side to disprove the fact that the missing person is dead. There is no law that dictates when a missing person shall be declared dead as the law does not bring a human being into existence by its declaration and it certainly cannot declare a human being to have died.
Is missing person dead or Alive real?
How long does a person have to be missing to be declared dead in India?
What is death in absentia?
How do I get a death certificate for a missing person in India?
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