Stay alive after death!

According to a recently published news item, the Supreme court felt that while deaths could be homicidal, accidental or suicidal in nature, the Indian legal system also recognises the concept of CIVIL DEATH, which can apply to a person who is alive and kicking. The judge explained that as per Hindu laws and customs, a hale and hearty person who performs his own last rites during his lifetime after renouncing the world & taking "sanyas" is legally deemed to be dead.

Now this could indeed lead to very interesting situations. Instead of declaring insolvency (which is such a legal pain) businessmen not wanting to pay their creditors could just cease to legally exist by taking this sanyas - the law surely can't punish the "dead".

A person could now have two death anniversaries - one legal and the other, real. Followers of important national leaders could try and prevail upon their ageing leaders to take "sanyas" since it would eventually lead to two national holidays - making the leader even more popular.

Since this civil death is based on a ritual, a "re-conversion" to normal life would also be possible by another ritual which will soon get invented - if it does not already exist. Now what would happen if such a "sanyasi" returns back to normal life? Could he be officially designated as a ghost? To further complicate matters, what happens if this re-converted sanyasi marries and has children? Would the offspring be known as baby ghosts and would their passports be the first official 'ghost-passports' ever issued ?

We have all heard of married Hindu males getting converted to Islam in order to marry a second time without attracting the long arm of the law (rermember Chand and Fiza). Resorting to 'civil death' could become very popular with income tax evaders. Imagine the income tax defaulter telling the leader of the raiding team that he just "died" an hour ago and then producing the original death certtificate. Shastris performing the ritual of 'sanyas' would be in great demand for they would be the only ones empowered to sign the 'civil death' certificate. Looking at the rush to acquire this qualification, every university will have a AICTE approved post graduate degree to confer upon its students the title of a 'shastri' recognised to prescribe and conduct the process of this 'sanyas'. Leaving IIMs and IITs far behind, this course will acquire a premium of its own and a tough new Joint Entrance Test (JEE) will have to be created to fill the limited seats available. Coaching classes will then overnight spring up at Jhumritalaiya (which will be called the Kota of this JEE) and other places promising a golden future.

It is not difficult to predict that the scheme of such a "death" would eventually become so popular that there would be separate colonies where these persons would stay, raise families (though this is forbidden in 'sanyas', can anyone stop these social and biological urges) work, elect representatives for their parliament, have their own police force, hospitals, schools, judiciary and maybe reservations for different castes (caste certificate issed by the original society will be accepted as sufficient proof) in government and private sectors and have all the other trappings of a normal society except that all this would be for those who have renounced the 'normal' society in which we presently live. Who knows,one day the supreme court of this "parallel community" might announce that it is possible for Hindus to perform religious rites on themselves to once again acquire the status of a person who is alive.