Seven years is the clock. If a relative has not been heard of for seven years by the people who would naturally have heard of him, a court can treat him as dead. The route is a declaratory suit in the civil court, resting on section 111 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023. That decree is what finally unlocks insurance, pension, bank balances and a succession certificate.
Quick answer. File a civil suit for a declaration that the missing person is presumed dead. Section 111 shifts the burden onto anyone who says he is still alive. The decree stands in for the death certificate you cannot get. Only then do heirship, insurance and succession claims move.
The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 replaced the Indian Evidence Act 1872 with effect from 1 July 2024. Section 111 is the successor to the old section 108, and section 110 succeeds the old section 107.
| Provision | Enacted words | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| BSA 2023, section 110. Burden of proving death of person known to have been alive within thirty years. | the question is whether a man is alive or dead, and it is shown that he was alive within thirty years, the burden of proving that he is dead is on the person who affirms it | The default. The family claiming death has to prove it. |
| BSA 2023, section 111. Burden of proving that person is alive who has not been heard of for seven years. | When the question is whether a man is alive or dead, and it is proved that he has not been heard of for seven years by those who would naturally have heard of him if he had been alive, the burden of proving that he is alive is shifted to the person who affirms it | The exception. After seven years of silence, the burden flips onto whoever insists he is alive. |
Silence alone does not make a death. Seven years of silence moves the burden of proof, and that is enough for a court to act on.
Read this part twice, because it costs families money. Section 111 shifts the burden about whether the person is alive. It raises no presumption about when he died. There is no rule that death happened on the seventh anniversary.
The Supreme Court settled this in L.I.C. Of India vs Anuradha, decided 26 March 2004, reported at 2004 (3) SCR 629. It held that “there is no presumption as to the date or time of death”, and that “the burden of proof would lay on the person who makes assertion of death having taken place at a given date or time in order to succeed in his claim”.
The facts are the classic missing-person situation. A life policy began in February 1986. The policyholder disappeared in July 1988, premiums stopped and the policy lapsed. His widow claimed in June 1996, after seven years. The Court allowed the insurer's appeal: the presumption showed he was dead by the time of the claim, not that he died while the policy was in force.
The seven-year clock is not something you sit out. Almost every document a court will want is easy to get in the first year and nearly impossible in the eighth.
| When | What to do | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Week one | Report the disappearance at the police station in writing. Keep the acknowledgement, diary entry number or FIR copy. | The dated police record is the single most important document. Central pension rules key off it. |
| First month | Write to the employer, bank, insurer and mobile operator recording the disappearance. Keep copies. | These letters prove that people who would naturally have heard from him did not. |
| First year | Preserve the last salary slip, bank statement, mobile bill, address proof and photographs. | The suit must show who would naturally have heard from him, and when the silence began. |
| Every year | Follow up the police file in writing. Check the Missing Person Search service on the Digital Police Portal of the Ministry of Home Affairs. | Continuing effort persuades a court the silence is real. |
If the police file has gone cold, RTI is the cheapest way to force a written answer. Ask the station for the status of the missing person report, the steps taken, and a copy of any report recording that the person could not be traced. Draft it on the AI RTI Drafter, and escalate silence with the First Appeal Builder under the RTI Act 2005.
Indian law has no dedicated presumption-of-death petition, and no government office issues a presumed-death order. The route used in practice is an ordinary civil suit for a declaration. If you have direct evidence of death, such as an accident or a disaster, you do not need section 111 and should not wait seven years.
This carve-out is narrow and applies to central government service. Rule 51 of the Central Civil Services Pension Rules 2021, headed “Entitlements of family of a missing Government servant or pensioner or family pensioner”, does not make the family wait seven years for family pension.
Note what this confirms: a police report that the person could not be traced despite all efforts is a real, obtainable document. Ask for it in writing, and use RTI if the station stalls.
The RTI Playbook covers keeping a paper trail that survives years of departmental memory.
There is no body and no registered death, so a normal death certificate is not available. You obtain the civil court declaration instead. Where a death is established but the entry is delayed or wrong, see death certificate delay and correction.
No. Section 111 shifts the burden of proof in a proceeding where the question arises. Banks, insurers and record offices will not act on the section by themselves, so the family files a declaratory suit and puts the decree on the table.
No. That is exactly what the Supreme Court decided in L.I.C. Of India vs Anuradha. The presumption goes to the fact of death, not the date. If a date matters to your claim, plead it and prove it by evidence.
Make them defendants. Once seven years of silence is proved, the burden of proving he is alive shifts onto them, and a bare assertion will not discharge it.
Yes, for the paper trail. RTI gets you the status of the missing person report, the action taken, and a copy of any report that the person could not be traced. It cannot declare anyone dead.
Start the file today, whatever year of the search you are in: police report number in writing, one dated letter each to the employer, bank and insurer, and the last statements and bills stored. When the seventh year closes, take that bundle to a civil lawyer and ask for a declaration under section 34 of the Specific Relief Act 1963, framed on section 111 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023, with every institution holding money joined as a defendant.