The mid-day report ‘Mentally ill homeless man ‘returns from dead’’, dated November 2, has raised a question: what are the legal rights of a living person once he is declared dead on paper? mid-day spoke to constitutional experts who shed light.

Advocate Floyd Gracias, Supreme Court counsel, said, “The peculiar case raises serious legal ramifications as to the effect of such a death certificate and the impact on the person concerned. Section 15 of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 provides for the cancellation of a death registration on account of erroneous entries. In this case, the death certificate ought to be cancelled immediately. However, the validity of any acts done on the basis of the death certificate would become a cause for concern and the validity of such acts would become questionable. The investigation agencies ought to have done due diligence in the matter before closing a report under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The corporation would have issued the death certificate based on such a report. The prime concern here is how the rights of such a person are secured in such cases. A death certificate means the determination of the life of the person. However, as the person is alive, the question being discussed is his legal status and rights arising subsequent to his discovery.”