Daughter wins legal battle to reclaim ancestral land:Woman still hopes to find her father after civil death ruling

My father left when I was two years old. My mother remarried. I was malnourished myself. I fought in court for five years, and only then did I get my ancestral land back. This was stated by Chanchal Sisodia, a manager in a private company. In the Khilchipur Civil Court, her father was declared civilly dead and three bighas of land were awarded to her. Chanchal fought against her own relatives for five years. To be recognised as a legal heir, she had to wait four years to obtain her father’s death certificate. This is the first case in the Rajgarh district where a person has been declared civilly dead. Following the court’s decision, Chanchal has secured her rights over the land. She now says efforts should also be made to trace her missing father and uncle, where they suddenly disappeared remains unknown. Dainik Bhaskar spoke to Chanchal. Read the report… Know the complete story of Chanchal Sisodia Chanchal Sisodia, a resident of Guradiya village, says that my grandfather’s name was Bhanwarlal. He was a government teacher. Grandfather had two sons and one daughter. My father, Devilal, was the eldest. Younger to him was uncle Mansingh, and third was aunt Jamna Bai. They had a total of 18 bighas of ancestral land in the village. Due to this, farming was also good. Father Devilal married Lalita Bai, a resident of Laxmanpura in Jeerapur tehsil, in 1994. Four years after the marriage, I was born on November 27, 1998. This is about the year 2000. I was 2 years old when my father went missing. He left home in such a way that he hasn’t returned to this day. She said that Uncle and aunt harassed her mother, sold jewellery According to Chanchal, when my father left home, our lives completely changed. Uncle Mansingh and aunt Jamna Bai, who used to carry us around in their arms when father was there, now we had become a thorn in their path. Gradually, they started harassing my mother. One by one, they sold her jewelry. ‘Uncle also went missing after father’ Chanchal said that after my father went missing, my mother waited until 2007, but when there was no trace, my maternal grandparents got her remarried. My maternal grandparents raised me. I completed my MBA studies. I am now a manager in a private company. Uncle Man Singh has also been missing since 2008, but no search or complaint was filed at any level. Meanwhile, Aunt Jamna Bai was married in Basniya village, but she mostly stayed at her maternal home. ‘No one even searched for the two sons of the house’ I returned to my village for the first time in 2017. I spent some time at my home. After that, I remained in constant contact. When I went to the village again in 2018, I inquired about my father from my uncle, but did not get a satisfactory answer. When I got it investigated at the police station, I found out that no missing person report had been filed for them. After this, I reached the Khilchipur police station in 2020. The police called family members and recorded their statements. The disappearance of father Devilal Sisodia and uncle Mansingh was registered. I went to the tehsil and met the tehsildar and patwari. I got the documents of the ancestral land in the village extracted. In the records, 6.5 bighas of land were registered in my father’s name, some portion of which had already been sold.
‘Went to court to get father’s death certificate made’ When I applied to the Tehsildar in 2022 to get my father’s death certificate made, I was told that a certificate for a missing person cannot be issued directly. For this, a declaration of death from the Civil Court is necessary. After that, I filed a petition in the Civil Court, Khilchipur. Then I demanded that my father be declared civilly dead and I be declared the legal heir. Finally, the decision came on March 31, 2026. Now we have received its copy. Chanchal said that we have won this case. Now, I want to find out where my father and uncle are. This case should be taken forward. The government should help us. What the experts say According to lawyer Sandeep Sharma, if a person remains missing for more than 7 years and there is no trace of them, the law presumes that they are not alive. However, only the civil court has the authority to declare their death. For this, the concerned person has to file a claim in the court for a declaration of civil death, after which the court gives its decision based on evidence and law.