Saturday, 19 AUGUST 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
A case of issuance of a counterfeit birth certificate has come to the fore in the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) after officials on Friday caught a woman with a fake birth certificate of a 16-year-old boy. The woman claimed that it was her son’s birth certificate which was made by a man working in a Common Service Centre (CSC) for Rs 1,000 and she was not aware that it was fake. According to the woman, she needed to submit this certificate’s copy at her son’s school but when she submitted it, they told her that it needs one more stamp from MCD’s office. When she reached the corporation’s office, the officials told her that it is a counterfeit certificate and has not been issued by MCD. The matter was brought to the chief municipal health officer Dr Avinash Khanna who analysed the copy and found that the certificate was issued on August 15 when all government offices were closed. He also observed several errors that indicated it to be a forged certificate. Khanna asked the woman about the details of the man who made it and the address of the CSC but she refused. Despite assuring her that action will be taken against the guilty man and not her if she is not involved, she refused and started crying while saying that she did not want to get into any trouble. She started asking the officials to return the fake certificate. The officials returned the certificate after scanning it. The officials also found the woman’s behaviour suspicious. Khanna said that the corporation takes such cases very seriously and will file a police complaint to ensure action is taken against the guilty party.
