Two children from Bela village in Shahjahanpur district in Uttar Pradesh are 102 and 104-year-old. Yes, you read that right. The case became the talk of the town when Pawan Kumar, the guardian of these children approached the anti-corruption bureau in Bareilly, which prompted the police to register the case. It was then shared widely with much amusement.
While the parents have alleged that the gram pradhan and the village development officer (VDO) had solicited for bribes prior to issuing the birth certificates and when refused had issued the birth certificates with 102 and 104 years as the children’s faulty age. However, there remains an unheard side to the case which belongs to the pradhan and the village development officer.
Praveen Mishra, the gram pradhan of Bela village and Sushil Agnihotri, the village development officer, have been blamed for demanding Rs 500 for the birth certificates. They, however, have a different story to tell. They say that this is a clear case of vengeance where the parents willfully fudged up the birth certificates of their own children to set up the officials.
Mishra said: “This is an act of vengeance. Our village had a kotedar (ration distributor) by the name of Vidya Devi. The complainant Pawan Kumar is her brother-in-law. In June 2019, the district magistrate (DM) had visited the village and during his inspection, several irregularities were found in the ration quota shop run by her. So, the DM cancelled the quota and lodged an FIR sending Vidya Devi to jail. During the DM inspection, the VDO and I were both present so Pawan Kumar believes us to be people behind the cancellation and had harboured ill-will against us.”
The DM action of June 2019 that Mishra is talking about had actually happened. A regional daily had reported the incident on June 14, 2019, which proves that the Shahjahanpur DM had prosecuted Bela’s kotedar and that Mishra is stating the fact.
Sushil Agnihotri, the VDO, said: “Following the incident, Pawan Kumar has been registering complaint after complaint, including the current one. Pawan had applied for the birth certificate of his nephew Sanket. At that time, online birth certificate could not be made, so I personally issued him a manual birth certificate for two years of age, which was later made into 102 by him.”
He added: “I was also charged for demanding bribes and issuing a faulty certificate upon refusal. This is an outrage. If someone asks for bribe to do some work, why would he do it without getting some and that too issuing a faulty document which can put him into trouble. This is a clear case of vengeance. So far as the corruption court’s order is concerned, the court had issued it without seeking our side on the case. We have taken a stay order from the high court.”
Talking about the case, Tejpal Singh, the station house officer (SHO) at Khutal police station informed: “The anti-corruption court had ordered for the case to be registered, but the accused have taken a stay order from the high court. The next hearing is in February and the further course of action would be based upon that.”
