A private school principal and the father of a 14-year-old rape survivor were arrested for allegedly tampering with birth records to aid the accused in securing bail, police said Sunday.
The principal was arrested Thursday in Deoria and the father was caught Saturday night in Behror, Rajasthan, said Sunil Kumar Jangir, Station House Officer at Murlipura Police Station.
The 14-year-old rape survivor’s father, Sanjay, allegedly conspired with a private school in Uttar Pradesh to obtain a false birth record, claiming the girl was an adult and not a minor.
This came after the girl had filed an FIR in July alleging she was sold to Sandeep Yadav by her aunt for Rs 2 lakh and was subsequently raped.
The aunt, Sandeep Yadav, and his father Satveer Yadav were arrested and sent to judicial custody following an investigation under various sections of the IPC and POCSO Act.
“The school principal Prannath Mal tampered with the school register and gave a false birth record. The document falsely stated that the girl’s birth year was 2003. We found the birth year had been changed from 2010 to 2003, thus making her 21-year- old,” Kumar said PTI reported.
Also Read:Ujjain: Man who filmed video of woman being raped on busy road, arrested
The SHO mentioned that after the girl filed an FIR, the police reviewed her records and discovered she was a minor. When additional documents were presented, the police suspected they were falsified, prompting them to open a separate case and dispatch a team to Uttar Pradesh for verification.
The investigation team found that the school register had been tampered with. They seized the register and arrested the principal. During interrogation, the principal revealed that the girl’s father had requested a false record, leading to the father’s arrest.
(With PTI Inputs)