A 58-year-old woman in Uttar Pradesh spent nearly three years officially “dead” due to a clerical error that the administration is only now moving to correct.
Saroj Devi, a resident of Chamar Nagaria village
in Khair tehsil of Uttar Pradesh, lost her husband Jagdish Prasad in 2020.
In 2022, she approached local authorities to obtain his death certificate. Instead, on January 1, 2022, officials recorded her death and issued a certificate declaring her deceased.
The mistake triggered a chain of consequences.
Her Aadhaar was deactivated, and she was shut out of essential services linked to identity verification.
According to her account, she spent the next several years moving from one government office to another, trying to prove she was alive and begging officials to correct the error.
She said she received only “administrative apathy” and no meaningful action.
Her case surfaced publicly on November 15 when she raised the matter at a Tehsil Diwas grievance forum, pleading with senior officers to restore her identity.
She explained how the error had pushed her into an administrative void where she “ceased to exist” on paper, leaving her unable to access basic services.
Khair Sub-Divisional Magistrate Shishir Kumar acknowledged the lapse and said the administration has now taken up the matter on priority.
“The issue is being rectified with urgency,” he said, assuring that the necessary corrections are in process.
For Saroj Devi, who has spent three years fighting to undo a mistake made while seeking closure over her husband’s death, the administrative machinery may finally be moving.
Officials say the rectification will reinstate her identity and restore access to services she lost because of the error.
