School principal, rape survivor's father held by Rajasthan Police for falsifying birth records of girl to help accused get bail

Jaipur: A private school principal and father of a 14-year-old rape survivor have been arrested for allegedly tampering with the birth records of the girl to help the accused secure bail, police said on Sunday.

The principal was arrested from Deoria on Thursday while the girl's father was caught from Behror in Rajasthan on Saturday night, Station House Officer (SHO) of Murlipura Police Station Sunil Kumar Jangir said.

The girl had lodged an FIR in July alleging that her aunt had sold her to one Sandeep Yadav, a resident of Haryana, for Rs two lakh and that she was subsequently raped.

The case was registered under various sections of the IPC and POCSO Act and after investigation, her aunt, Sandeep Yadav and his father Satveer Yadav were arrested and sent to judicial custody.

In the meanwhile, the girl's father Sanjay allegedly contacted a private school in Uttar Pradesh to obtain a false record to claim that the girl was an adult and not a minor.

"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," he said.

The SHO said after the girl registered an FIR, police had obtained her record in which she is a minor. When the second documents came up, police suspected it to be false and registered a separate case and a team was sent to Uttar Pradesh for verification.

"The team found that tampering was done in the school register. The register was seized and the principal was arrested. During interrogation, he said the girl's father had approached him to seek a false record. After this, the girl's father was also arrested on Saturday night," he said.

The SHO said the principal and the girl's father have been arrested in the second case related to tampering with documents.