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12 booked in Patiala for using fake SC certificates to avail benefits
The FIR was registered on March 30 under sections 420, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) after the complainant moved Punjab and Haryana high court.
Patiala Police have booked 12 individuals, including two former women panchayat members and a serving government employee from Aalampur village for allegedly using forged Scheduled Caste (SC) certificates to avail of various benefits including jobs.
The FIR was registered on March 30 under sections 420, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) after the complainant moved Punjab and Haryana high court. As per FIR, the accused used forged documents to avail the benefits under various SC schemes.
The high court, last month, issued a notice to Patiala senior superintendent of police (SSP) over this issue. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for April 8. Also, the court had asked for a status report from the Punjab government on this issue.
The accused are learned to have been caught by the Department of Social Justice, empowerment, and Minorities in August 2022.
The accused have been identified as Kashmir Singh, Amandeep Singh, Vicky, Manjeet Kaur, Angrez Singh, Kulwant Kaur, Jaswant Singh, Sawran Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Balbir Kaur, Davinder Singh and Narinder Singh.
The FIR, a copy of which is with HT, reveals that these accused were from the Rajput community and had obtained fake SC certificates claiming to be from the Sirkiband community, which is a schedule caste (SC).
Balbir Singh, complainant, said, “Despite their certificates being found fake in 2022, it took three years for Patiala police to register a case. Action should also be taken against the nambardar and tehsildar who facilitated these people in getting the fake SC certificates.”
As per documents accessed by HT, the state department of social justice and minorities, after conducting inquiries, has declared that over 40 individuals — including an IAS (Allied) officer, an IRS officer, and several sarpanches — have used fake SC certificates over the past three years to avail various benefits including jobs.
