Woman seeks death certificate of husband missing since 2005

20/03/2020, STAFF REPORTER ,MADURAI

After a woman who lost her fisherman husband in 2005 moved the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday seeking compensation and issuance of the death certificate of her husband, the court directed the State to respond in the case.

Justice C.V. Karthikeyan directed the State government to present details of similar cases. The case was adjourned for filing of the report. The petitioner, T. Malliga of Rameswaram, said that she was in dire need of money to run her family.

Ms. Malliga said that in 2005, her husband and three others went into the sea for fishing, and their boat sank into the sea.

While the other three men were rescued from Katchatheevu later, the woman said, her husband could not be traced. She said that she had registered a missing complaint with the local police and also approached the government for help, but to no avail.

Saying she was finding it hard to make ends meet, the woman said that under Section 108 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, a person missing for long and not heard of for over seven years could be presumed to have died. It was 15 years since her husband went missing, she said. The woman said that the families of fishermen who lost their lives in cyclones had received compensation from the State. But, no such monetary benefit had been given to her so far.