Lucknow: Jitan is two-year-old and can recall his previous birth. He recognises his family from his previous birth and insists on retaining his earlier name. Jitan was born in 2015 in Makkaganj village in Lakhimpur district.

A few weeks ago, on the festival of Raksha Bandhan, Jitan refused to let his sisters tie rakhi on him. He claimed that his sisters lived in his house that belongs to another farmer, Videshi, in the neighbouring Bholapur village. Jitan’s father Shiv Kumar took the small boy to Bholapur and his behavior left everyone astounded.

Jitan not only started recognising everyone in the farmer’s family but even walked in and dug out things that he claimed were his own belongings. Jitan pointed to Mr Videshi and said he was his father. He insisted that his name was not Jitan but Dilip. Mr Videshi told reporters that his own son Dilip, 30, had died in May 2012 while bathing in a lake in Bengaluru. His cremation was performed in Bengaluru since the family did not have the means to bring the body to Lakhimpur.

After Jitan started recognising him, Mr Videshi’s wife Basanti took the two-year-old boy to her maternal family and the boy named each one of the relatives there.

Both the families now admit that Jitan is a reincarnation of Dilip but the Videshi family does not wish to create any problem in the Shiv Kumar family.

Mr Videshi’s six daughters and a son dote on the two-year-old boy and address him respectfully as ‘Bhaiyya’ — just like they addresses their deceased brother Dilip.

“Videshi and his family members visit us regularly and they bring clothes and sweets for Jitan. He is staying with us because he is small but once he grows up, he will be free to choose his family. Some people say that he may even forget things related to his previous birth,” said Mr Kumar.