Declared dead 7 years ago, 45-year-old Jharkhand woman returns home alive

Dafli Oraon returned to her Lohardaga home seven years after her family presumed her dead. Her reappearance has prompted questions over how an unidentified body was earlier linked to her.

In Short

• Family performed last rites mistaking an unclaimed body for her
• Dafli was found alive by Mumbai's Shraddha Rehabilitation Foundation
• They question police's identification process of the body

For seven years, a Jharkhand family believed one of their own was dead and even performed her last rites. They had no idea she was alive and living in another state. Then, she returned home, leaving her family stunned and overjoyed.

Dafli Oraon, 45, a resident of Lohardaga town, had gone missing around seven years ago. Her family had reported her missing to the police.

Dafli was eventually brought back to her ancestral home by a Mumbai-based organisation, turning years of grief into an emotional reunion.

FAMILY MISTOOK UNCLAIMED BODY FOR DAFLI

According to the family, they were shown only the clothes of the unidentified deceased woman and not the actual body.

They said police had explained that the body had badly decomposed because of the passage of time and had already been buried at the place where it was found.

With the clothes resembling Dafli's, the family believed that the unidentified woman was her and proceeded with the last rites.

Over time, they came to terms with Dafli's presumed death. They had no idea that she was alive and had wandered into another state.

Dafli's husband also died after she went missing, making her unexpected return even more emotional for the family.

HOW DAFLI WAS FOUND AFTER SEVEN YEARS

The case took an unexpected turn in 2026 when Dafli came into the care of Mumbai's Shraddha Rehabilitation Foundation through 'Mission Aasra' in Khurda, Odisha.

The organisation said it works with destitute and mentally ill people found wandering on the streets, providing them treatment and rehabilitation.

During her treatment, Dafli revealed her address as Kutmu in Lohardaga. The organisation then gathered information, located her family and arranged for her return to her ancestral home.

A team from the Mumbai-based organisation eventually arrived in Lohardaga with Dafli.

FAMILY RECOGNISES DAFLI IMMEDIATELY

When Dafli reached her home, her brother and mother recognised her immediately.

The family, which had lived for seven years believing that Dafli was dead, was overwhelmed to see her alive and standing before them.

The return brought sudden happiness to a home that had once been filled with grief. Neighbours were also astonished by the extraordinary turn of events.

FAMILY QUESTIONS IDENTIFICATION PROCESS

While the family is overjoyed to have Dafli back, the incident has also raised questions about how the unidentified body was identified.

The family now says that if the police had conducted a more thorough identification process, including showing them the body for confirmation, they would not have spent seven years believing that Dafli had died.

The initial identification was based on the similarity of the clothes, while the family never saw the body itself.

Seven years later, Dafli's return has turned what the family believed was a settled tragedy into an extraordinary reunion.

- Ends