Clerical errors made by officials led to two separate cases of injustice, where a living woman was declared dead and one man’s one year of life was wasted in jail. In the first case, a 58-year-old woman hailing from Aligarh, UP, received her own death certificate instead of her husband’s when she applied three years ago, due to a clerical error made by her village panchayat. In the second case, a 27-year-old man hailing from Madhya Pradesh was wrongfully jailed under the National Security Act (NSA) due to a “typing mistake” made during a routine administrative process.
Saroj Devi, 58, lost her husband Jagdish Prasad on 19th February, 2000. A few years later, when she applied for her husband’s death certificate, the Gram Panchayat issued a death certificate in her name instead. The Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), upon receiving an official complaint, has formed a committee to investigate the matter. However, due to this clerical error, Saroj Devi’s Aadhaar card has been blocked, and as a result, she is unable to receive government welfare benefits or perform any official work. Saroj wants the mistake to be immediately rectified.
Sushant Bais, 27, was wrongfully kept in jail for over a year under the National Security Act (NSA) due to a “typing mistake” that mentioned Sushant’s name instead of the actual accused, Nirajkant Dwivedi. Sushant was arrested on 4th September 2024 and walked out of jail on 9th September 2025. The High Court has issued a contempt notice to the district collector and directed him to compensate Sushant for the clerical error, which the HC called a ‘non-application of mind’. However, Sushant says that no amount of money can compensate for him missing out on his newborn daughter’s birth, which happened while he was detained in jail.
Thus, cross checking in official matters can lead to avoiding human errors and resultant cases of injustice.
(Lead image: AI generated)