A 79-year-old man, Sharif Ahmad, presumed dead by his family for nearly three decades, returned to his hometown in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, on December 29. He had been living in West Bengal since 1997 after remarrying following his first wife's death. His return was prompted by the need to collect documents for West Bengal's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The reunion was emotional for his family, who had lost contact and assumed he was deceased. He has since returned to West Bengal.