Losing an 80 odd-year-old sibling living with you is heartbreaking enough, but getting her death certificate was even more traumatic. Though married twice, she had no husband or children, so getting her death certificate fell on her octogenarian sibling. After informing family and friends and completing the rituals, her priority was to get the death certificate. Her bank accounts had to be closed, and the government informed her because she had spent many years working as a paediatrician in one of Delhi’s better-known hospitals.

If a person dies in a hospital, the death certificate is given by the hospital, but if a person dies at home, the death certificate is given by the Municipal Corporation. Since the siblings were in Gurugram, the death certificate had to be given by the department of births and deaths certification under the Health Department of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG). A relative, who had got the death certificate for his........

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