How to get death certificate in India?

A Death Certificate is an official statement confirming the death of a person. A death certificate provides conclusive proof of death of a person along with the place and date of death.

Following are the uses of the Death Certificate.

• Settlement of inheritance and property rights

• Getting insurance claims

• Family pension

Registrar

The death certificate is to be provided by the Registrar. The responsibility of the registrar has been assigned to several differently designated officers/officials.

At the local level, Registrar can be the Health officer/Executive officer of MC/Nagar Palika/In-charge PHC/CHC/Block Development Officer/Panchayat official/Gram Sevak.

Sub-registrar can be Medical Officer Dist. Hospital/CHC/ PHC/Teacher/Village level worker/Panchayat Officials/Computer/Registration Clerk, etc.

Documents Required for a Death certificate in India

• Form No. 4 (Institutional) or  Form 4A (Non-Institutional) for furnishing cause of death

The process to register for Death

The person applying for a death certificate should fill out a form (Form-2 for deaths) at the hospital, which the hospital will then send to the office of the registrar. The Registrar will provide the certificate, which can then be collected at a specified date.

However, death can occur in many places such as

• House [Residential or Non-residential], or

• Institution [Medical / Non-medical](Hospital / Jail / Hostel /Dharamshala, etc.), or

• Other places (Public / Any other place).

Details of who should inform the Registrar in these cases are mentioned below.

An Informant is an individual who has been designated to report within the prescribed time, the fact of occurrence of death along with certain of its characteristics to the Registrar to register the death. This information is to be provided to the Registrar, either orally or in Form 2: Death Report Form

A notifier is a person who notifies to the Registrar in prescribed form and time, every birth or death or both at which she/he attended or was present at or which had occurred in the area under the jurisdiction of the Registrar.

Registration of deaths of missing persons

There are instances, where a person is missing but the family does not have her / his current status i.e. whether the person is alive or dead.

Ordinarily, if the person is missing or unheard, she/he shall be presumed to be dead by the court under Section 107 and 108 of the Indian Evidence Act on expiry of seven years from the date missing and not earlier.

The presumption of death and its date and place of occurrence is a matter of burden of proof. The same may be determined by the competent court/authority on being approached by the plantiff based on the oral and documentary evidence produced before the court. If the Court does not mention the date of death in its order, the date on which plaintiff approached the Court would be taken as the date of death.

Registration of deaths in natural calamities and disasters

At the time of natural calamities such as Tsunami, Earthquake, Flood, etc. and disasters such as severe accidents resulting in mass causalities, special arrangements such as the appointment of Sub Registrars with sufficient power for on the spot registration of the deaths and issuance of death certificates will be made.

Delay in Death registration

The time for notifying the occurrence of the death to the Registrar is 21 days from the date of death. For events reported for registration within 21 days of occurrence, a copy of extracts of prescribed particulars from the Death Register will be provided free of charge.

The information on the occurrence of the event can also be reported to you after the expiry of 21 days. Such events fall under the category of delayed registration as:

• More than 21 days but within 30 days of its occurrence

• After 30 days but within one year of its occurrence

• Beyond one year of its occurrence

Fees

Delayed registration is subjected to payment of a late fee and permission of the prescribed authority.

• Death event, information on which is given to the Registrar after the expiry of 21 days but within 30 days of its occurrence, shall be registered on payment of a late fee of Rupee Two

• Death event, information on which is given to the Registrar after 30 days but within one year of its occurrence, shall be registered only with the written permission of the prescribed authority and on the production of an affidavit made before a notary public or any other officer authorized in this behalf by the State Government and payment of a late fee of Rupee Five

• Death event which has not been registered within one year of its occurrence shall be registered only on an order made by a magistrate of the first class after verifying the correctness of the event and payment of a late fee of Rupee Ten. 

Delayed death registration process

In case, the death is not already registered at the time of death, the following documents are required to get Death Certificate, 

• Get Non-Availability Certificate from the Registrar's office. The Non-Availability Certificate is an acknowledgement or endorsement from the authorities stating that the death certificate is not available to them. Applicants have to fill Form 10 and submit it to the Registrar, who will then verify the data and issue the acknowledgement

• Photo ID of Applicant

How to apply online for a Death certificate in India?

Few of the state governments in India allow online applications for death certificates. Details of them are provided below.

• Kerala Civil Registration website

• Karnataka E-Janma Website

• Rajasthan Civil Registration Website

• Chhattisgarh E-district Website

• Andhra Pradesh Meeseva Website

• Delhi Municipal Corporation Website

• Himachal Pradesh E-district website

• Madhya Pradesh Nagar Palika website

• Uttarakhand E-district website

• Uttar Pradesh Urban Local Body

Download the Death certificate in India

If you belong to any of these States, check the website of that particular State whether they allow the search and download of the death certificate. For example, the Government of Kerala allows searching of the death records based on Date of Death, Gender and Mother’s Name.

So even if you lose the death certificate, you can search for it and download it, provided your State digitised the death records.

Corrections in Death Certificate

Corrections can happen due to clerical errors, errors in substance or fraudulent errors.

Clerical or Formal error means an inadvertent/typographical mistake.

Example: The name of the person was wrongly recorded as ‘Moni’ instead of ‘Munni’. In such a case, the Registrar may make necessary corrections in the spelling of the name of the person by making a suitable entry in the margin of the death register without any alteration of the original entry after satisfying herself/himself in the matter. The Registrar shall also have to sign the marginal entry and add thereto the date of correction.

Error in form or substance: Error that has a bearing on the identity of the person. If any person asserts that any entry in the register of births and deaths is erroneous in substance, the Registrar may correct the entry upon production by that person a declaration setting forth the nature of the error and facts of the case made by two credible persons knowing the facts of the case.

Example: Sex of the person is reported as Male instead of Female. In this case, the Registrar can make corrections to the entry if the applicant produces a declaration as to the error and the facts of the case. Further to it, two credible persons need to declare that they know the facts of the case. The Registrar is supposed to report all corrections along with necessary details to the state Government or the officer specified on this behalf.

Fraudulent or improper entries – Entries made with an ulterior motive. If it is proved to the satisfaction of the Registrar that any entry in the register of births and deaths has been fraudulently or improperly made, she/he will make a report giving necessary details to the officer authorized by the Chief Registrar and on hearing from him/her take necessary action in the matter.

Death Certificate Forms

• Form 2: Death Report Form

• Form No. 4 (Institutional) or Form 4A (Non-Institutional) for furnishing cause of death

• Form 6: Death Certificate

• Form 10: Non-Availability Certificate