UP man waiting for missing son since 13 years; death certificate denied by authorities

A father waiting for his missing for the last 13 years was left with no option rather than taking a death certificate and is now even getting denied for the death certificate by government authorities as police haven't filed a closure report in the case.

Bhopal: A father waiting for his missing son for the last 13 years was left with no option rather than taking a death certificate and is now even getting denied for the death certificate by government authorities as police haven't filed a closure report in the case. Dr BP Sutrakar, a resident of Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, works as an assistant director in the Agriculture Department, and he was blessed with two sons.

On February 21, 2010, he received information from Bhabha College of Dental Science, Jatkhedi, Bhopal, stating his elder Krishankant Sutrakar, who was pursuing a Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS), went missing. Following the information, he immediately reached the college and lodged a complaint at Misrod Police Station. Since then he and his family have been looking for their missing son and tried every possible way to know his whereabouts, but they failed. While all these years police didn't take the matter seriously and just kept doing formalities.

Sutrakar says "Now it's been 13 years, I have been looking for my son, seeking action I also approached the High Court, after which on October 26, 2021, Madhya Pradesh High Court ordered police to re-investigate the case seriously, but even then the police approach remained lethargic." "As I lost all hope and applied for the death certificate, but now I am even getting denied for it, I have appealed for it in the Civil Court as well. There were some policies and funds in my son's name and I am not being able to withdraw them."

When officials responsible for issuing the death certificates were asked about the issue they said that for now, they haven't received any closure report from the police side in the case. So, in absence of it, they can't issue a death certificate. While Bhopal's Misrod police station in-charge Ras Bihari Sharma said that the victim's father never came and met him if they approach him on a personnel level he will offer them help.

As per the law, if any person remains missing for seven years they are considered dead and a closer report gets filed in the case. In such cases, a civil death certificate is issued under section 108. For this, the aggrieved person has to go to the Municipality or the Municipal Corporation, or the institution concerned and apply by enclosing a copy of the FIR, closure report and the copy of the advertisement issued for missing.