Can the dead have a bright future? The rationalists may have a different opinion but a village 'pradhan' (panchayat head) in Uttar Pradesh certainly thinks so.
Babu Lal, the head of Sirwaiya village panchayat in the state's Unnao district, issued a person's death certificate stating that he wished the dead a bright future. This in turn created some problems for the deceased person's family.
The matter came to light, when someone uploaded the bizarre death certificate on the social networking sites and it went viral.
According to the reports, 72-year old Luxmi Shankar, a resident of the same village, had died last month. Shankar's son approached the village pradhan for issuance of a death certificate, which was required for replacing his father's name on the land records with his.
Babu Lal did issue the certificate but it was rejected by the revenue officials, when submitted for transfer of name. And the reason was that 'the dead still had a future'.
''Main inke ujjwal bhavishya ki kamna karta hoon'' (I wish him (dead) a bright future), the certificate stated.
The pradhan, however, realised the mistake later and issued another death certificate, reports said.
He said that he was used to issuing character certificates to the residents of the village in which he would wish them a bright future.
(Published 26 February 2020, 15:43 IST)
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