Back From Death? 79-Year-Old UP Man Gone 'Missing' 3 Decades Back, Comes Home In Muzaffarnagar For Bengal SIR 'Documents'

Muzaffarnagar: A 70-year-old man who went missing decades ago and subsequently presumed dead by his family members, returned to his hometown in Muzaffarnagar's Khatauli. What led him back to his hometown? The Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal, where he has now settled. He has come home to collect some documents for the SIR exercise.

Sharif Ahmad (79), had been ‘missing' since 1997. Reports indicate that he moved to West Bengal following his second marriage after the death of his first wife.

Ahmad finally came back to his hometown on December 29. But, only to collect documents for the SIR exercise, his nephew Waseem Ahmad told a news agency, adding that they had tried tracing him for years and had even travelled to West Bengal, following the address provided to them by his second wife. However, their attempts failed. His family, including his four decades, presumed him dead.

The SIR exercise compelled Ahmad to re-establish contact with his native place. Nevertheless, the reunion brought joy to Ahmad's family. After his return, Ahmad found that some of his family members, including his father and brother, had died while he was away.

Sharif has now come back to West Bengal's Medinipur to complete the SIR formalities. He lives there with his family.

West Bengal SIR Row

The ongoing SIR process has drawn much criticism from the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal who claim that the exercise is targeted at deregistering minority communitinies, especially along the border areas of the state. With the state assembly elections drawing close, the rhetoric war between the TMC and the opposition BJP, has now reached heights.

A Trinamool Congress delegation met the Election Commission on Wednesday and discussed about some issues, including the SIR being held in West Bengal, with party leader Abhishek Banerjee stating later that "there was no concrete answer to anything".

A five-member TMC delegation submitted a memorandum to the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal on December 29, demanding that the list of voters under the "logical discrepancy" category be published and that the methodology and legal authority used to create this category be disclosed. The party had even termed the Election Commission as the "B-team" of BJP.

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