The applicant sought a declaration under the Declarations of Death Act, 2002 that a missing individual was dead after disappearing while apparently travelling to a cottage, or alternatively an order declaring the individual an absentee and appointing the applicant as committee of property under the Absentees Act.
The court reviewed the statutory requirements for declaring death before seven years have elapsed, including proof that the individual disappeared in circumstances of peril.
Despite extensive searches, investigations, and evidence of past mental health issues and prior suicidal ideation, the court found insufficient evidence that the disappearance occurred in circumstances of peril within the meaning of the statute.
The court emphasized the legislature’s intention that declarations of death be made cautiously and only when statutory conditions are clearly met.
The request for a declaration of death was refused, but the court declared the missing person an absentee and appointed the applicant as committee of property.
