'Minor' accused's birth record application may seal his fate

#Jammu

The Jammu and Kashmir police's hopes of trying the purportedly 15-year-old accused in the Kathua rape and murder case as an adult are pinned on his birth certificate application filed 14 years ago.

A board of medical experts says the accused is not a minor, and his age is between 19 and 23.

The crime branch, which has contested the trial court's decision to treat the accused as a minor, has annexed the application in its petition before the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, officials said. They said the application is riddled with careless mistakes and raises doubts about its veracity.

'Imaginary' entries

According to the petition, the application filed by the father at the tehsildar's office in Hiranagar, Jammu, on April 15, 2004, makes for an "interesting" reading and has "imaginary" entries.

The father asked for a birth certificate for his eldest, a boy, whose date of birth is stated as November 23, 1997. His daughter, is said to have been born on February 21, 1998, and the youngest, the Kathua accused, on October 23, 2002.

A "perusal" of the dates of birth of the two elder children reveals a difference of two months and 28 days, "which, by any medical standard, is impossible", states the petition. This, it says, indicates a casual approach adopted by the father in furnishing particulars of the birth dates.

Besides, according to the birth certificate application, the juvenile was born in a Hiranagar hospital. But the Hiranagar block medical officer told the police that there was no record of his birth there.

According to the chargesheet filed by the crime branch, the juvenile was instrumental in the abduction, gang rape and killing of the child in January this year.

The court will hear the petition on June 6.

Agencies