Noida: Two booked for forging documents to declare rape-murder suspect a juvenile

An FIR was registered under sections of rape, murder and destruction of evidence under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the suspect

On a complaint by the Gautam Budh Nagar Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), the Phase-2 police station on Monday booked two people for allegedly forging documents to declare an adult suspect a juvenile in a rape and murder case so that his sentencing could be reduced, senior officers said on Tuesday.

The case dates back to March 15, 2016, when a 17-year-old girl was raped and murdered at her rented accommodation in a Greater Noida village allegedly by her cousin, identified as Anil Kumar, police said. (Representative Image)

The case dates back to March 15, 2016, when a 17-year-old girl was raped and murdered at her rented accommodation in a Greater Noida village allegedly by her cousin, identified as Anil Kumar, police said.

“The sexual violence and murder took place when the victim was alone at her rented home in the village. Her cousin, Kumar, came to her house and raped her. When she tried to scream, he strangulated her with a piece of cloth and dumped the body in the adjacent empty plot,” said Surendra Yadav, advocate for the victim’s family.

The suspect, who was a resident of Mandawali area of Delhi, was arrested by the Ecotech-3 police the same day after the girl’s mother came home and found her daughter missing, and Kumar about to flee.

The suspect was arrested and lodged in the district’s Luksar jail since then, his lawyer said.

On October 1, the suspect’s trial was transferred to the Juvenile Justice Board after his lawyer told the district and sessions court in Surajpur that the suspect was a juvenile at the time of the incident.

Arun Kumar Gupta, a member magistrate of the JJB, said on October 4, the JJB ordered the registration of an FIR against the suspect’s father and school principal for allegedly producing fake documents to declare him a juvenile.

“During trial to determine the age of Kumar, the suspect told the board that he had studied till class 8 at a private school in Kanpur and that he was born on February 10, 2000. The suspect’s father Mohan Lal also produced his son’s marksheet before the board to attest this. The board then summoned school principal Nathu Ram Singh who also said the suspect’s date of birth was February 10, 2000,” said Gupta.

However, the girl’s mother approached the board and claimed that the suspect’s original date of birth was July 10, 1997, and he was a class 12 graduate from an inter-college in Kanpur, said the JJB member.

“She also produced a copy of academic documents of the suspect in which his year of birth was 1997. She alleged that the suspect’s father had produced a forged document to get the him declared a juvenile,” he said.

The board then asked the principal to produce year-wise attendance records and marksheets of the suspect. The principal said the records were not available and as they had been “destroyed by termites”, said Gupta.

The board observed that Kumar’s father, in connivance with the principal, produced fake documents to get Kumar declared juvenile.

“On the basis of the facts mentioned above, make sure to file a FIR along with all \documents against the applicant Mohan Lal and the concerned principal Nathuram Singh at Phase 2 police station Noida,” said Divyakant Singh Rathore, principal magistrate, Juvenile Justice Board, Gautam Budh Nagar.

On the basis of a complaint, an FIR was registered on Monday. “An FIR has been registered against the two persons under sections 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) Section 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the IPC,” said Vindhyanchal Tiwari, station house officer of Phase-2 police station.

The JJB, meanwhile, has sent back the trial file of the suspect to the district and sessions court where he will be tried as an adult, said Gupta.