Himalayan Families Shattered as Missing Persons Remain “Invisible in Law”
New Delhi/Shimla/Dehradun/Srinagar – The monsoon may have withdrawn, but the shadow of tragedy still hangs heavy over hundreds of Himalayan families.
The 2025 floods and landslides have left at least 200 people missing in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu & Kashmir alone.
If the numbers from all Himalayan states are put together, the count runs into several hundreds. And every year, it is the same grim story.
Take the case of Ravi, a 32-year-old who worked at a mobile shop in Delhi. He went missing at Kedarnath Dham on July 31, 2024, when a massive disaster struck. His family in Delhi has been shattered ever since.
They are struggling in poverty. They cannot access his savings, PF, insurance or even his small bank deposits worth a few thousand rupees. The law stands in their way.
Under the Indian Evidence Act, 2023, a missing person can be legally declared dead only after seven years. Till then, the families are left in limbo. No death certificate. No access to funds. No financial relief. Only despair.
Civil society groups are raising their voice. Anoop Nautiyal, President of the Social Development Foundation (SDF) in Dehradun, has cited Ravi’s case as an example of the law’s cruelty.
“It has been 14 months and Ravi’s family is still in distress. This is not just one family’s pain.
There are hundreds like them across the Himalayas. We cannot wait for seven years. Relief must come faster,” Nautiyal said.
In Uttarakhand, where just this monsoon, five people went missing in Nangana village of Chamoli district.
Government data shows 110 persons are still missing this year in the state. Dharali was the case in point where over a hundred had gone missing while six were found dead in flash flood in last August this year.
In Himachal too, dozens have disappeared in flash floods and cloudbursts in Seraj, Chamba,Kangra and other parts of the state. Over 50 persons are still missing in Himachal.
In Kashmir, landslides and floods swept away hundreds of pilgrims at Choisit. where over 30 persons are still missing as per reports.
The pain of losing someone to floods is unbearable. But the pain of waiting endlessly for the law to acknowledge that loss is excruciating.
Families remain trapped in trauma, unable to move on. Children are pulled out of schools. Widows cannot claim pensions. Old parents beg for help.
The Himachal Pradesh government raised this issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the state in September.
But observers say the matter needs to be pushed regularly at the highest level until relief reaches families of the missing.
Experts and citizens are demanding that the Government of India amend the law or use the Disaster Management Act to treat missing persons in disasters as “presumed dead” after due verification. Only then can their families receive immediate relief.
Parliamentarians and MLAs from the Himalayan States are being urged to push a joint case before the Centre. Until that happens, hundreds of families will remain in the shadows—living with the ache of loss, yet invisible in law.
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