JAIPUR: Rajasthan police on Saturday arrested a 50-year-old school principal in Uttar Pradesh's Deoria for allegedly tampering with the birth records of a 14-year-old rape survivor to help the accused secure bail by falsely claiming the girl was not a minor, thus weakening the Pocso case.
The girl reported to Jaipur's Murlipura police station last month that her father and aunt had sold her to a Haryana-based man named Sandeep for Rs 2 lakh, said DCP Amit Kumar. She alleged that Sandeep raped her. Police subsequently filed an FIR under Pocso Act and arrested the girl's father, aunt, and Sandeep, all of whom are now in judicial custody.
To undermine the survivor's age and gain a legal advantage, the accused's family members produced a falsified birth record from the school where the minor had been enrolled. The altered documents falsely stated that the girl was born in 2003, making her 21 years old and thus an adult.
Police found the birth year had been changed from 2010 to 2003 by principal Vijendra Kumar Mal, in collusion with the rape survivor's family, who sought to protect her imprisoned father and aunt.
As a result, police filed a second FIR and arrested the principal.
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