In 2010, while just starting out in the field of photography, Arkadripta Chakraborty was on the lookout for interesting subjects on which to build his portfolio. A graduate of Law school, Chakraborty had been forced to abandon his artistic pursuits to focus on college but eventually he returned to the career that was his true passion. Looking to compile a serious body of work and constantly researching issues that he thought would be interesting, it was then that a somewhat distant memory came back to him--the memory of a very odd court case he had read about in Law School, in which a man was fighting to prove that he was alive. This intriguing case was the foundation for his photo series on Uttar Pradesh’s ‘Dead People’s Society.’ 

In some districts, thousands of people that are very much alive have been declared legally dead, usually by greedy family members looking for a shortcut to gain their lands and fortunes. This practice has affected thousands in the state who live their lives in a state of limbo, their property and livelihoods stolen, and with no legal method by which to reclaim them. One such man is Lal Bihari Yadav. He was declared dead at the age of 15 and since then, he’s become known in his village in Azamgad as Mritak, which simply means ‘Dead Man’. He was the mind behind the ‘Dead People’s Society’ or the ‘Mritak Sangh’ which has become a refuge for people who have fallen victim to this practice and need legal or financial support.

Chakraborty started to track the phenomenon via news articles, contacting the reporters who had covered the issue, asking for their help. This course seemed to return no useful results. ‘I guess I was too naïve at that time as I was just starting out. Slowly I realised that it was impossible to get a head start by waiting for replies from such senior reporters,’ Chakraborty mused to us, so eventually he decided to take matters into his own hands. He got on a train in Mumbai bound for the Azamgad District of Uttar Pradesh and decided to track the story down on his own. ‘Somehow, in my gut I knew that if I land up there, I would be able to track Lal Bihari ‘Mritak’ the founder of the Association of Dead,’ he explains, and that’s exactly what he did.

In many of these cases, the officials of the area turned a blind eye or worse, were involved in the process of stripping these people of their identities. When Chakraborty attempted to question one of the officials, he was interrogated about his background and intentions before being sent on his way. He came across many different stories on his journey but one in particular has stayed with him. The story of ‘Mritak Paltan Yadav.’ When Paltan found out that he had been legally declared dead, with no means or resources to fight his case in a court, he chose instead to become a Sadhu (a holy man). The reasoning behind his choice was that he could now visit all the holy cities without paying for train tickets. He got to travel and would be given donations by people that would allow him to live comfortably.

While Paltan’s story had a silver lining many others haven’t been so fortunate or enterprising. Although the villagers tend to look up to the Mritak Sangh and seek their advice on land and property debates, most of these cases are a direct result of betrayal by immediate family members which means the victims are shunned by their relatives and isolated from the homes and people they once loved.
Chakraborty was appalled by this practice and its blatant violations of basic human rights. As he continued to unravel the story he was met by more and more pleas from the victims. ‘Slowly as I started to interact with the victims and kept going back to meet them, it kind of sank into me as with my every visit, there would be a new victim who would get in touch for help.’ Although this was an emotionally jarring experience, he believes that Mritak Sangh and in particular ‘Lal Bihari Mritak’ has been a pillar of support for all of them and he deserves a lot more recognition and collective help.
There’s a widely known saying that goes “If a tree falls in a forest, and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” As Chakraborty shifts his lens in the direction of people whose entire existence is a paradox in the eyes of the system, one can only hope that this elegant photo series might serve as a catalyst for more people to take an interest in an issue that needs our immediate attention.

Feature Image Courtesy Arkadripta Chakraborty