Court orders case against woman’s family for faking her age to frame hubby under Pocso Act

Pilibhit: A case has been registered against six members of a woman’s family for allegedly fabricating her age on her birth certificate to falsely implicate her husband under the Pocso Act. The action came following an order from the chief judicial magistrate’s court in Pilibhit.Saba Hussain, 24, a resident of Bisalpur tehsil headquarters in Pilibhit district, had married Mohd Wasim, 34, of Khatima, Uttarakhand, on March 22, 2024. However, opposing their love marriage, her elder brother lodged an FIR against Wasim accusing him and his family members of abducting her on Dec 18 in 2023, explicitly stating her age as 22 years. He also claimed that she left with jewellery valued at Rs 10.6 lakh and Rs 4.5 lakh in cash.Challenging the FIR, Saba filed a petition in Uttarakhand high court, following which she was granted protection from her paternal family for six weeks. However, her family later produced a fraudulent birth certificate to the police portraying her as a minor. Relying on the document without verifying its authenticity, the police added Pocso Act charges to the FIR and subsequently arrested Wasim.Police said her family members had earlier demanded Rs 2 lakh from Wasim threatening to send him to jail under Pocso Act which he refused to pay.Following his arrest, he was produced before the court of the district and sessions judge on Jan 14 this year but based on Uttarakhand HC order, the district judge ordered his immediate release. Wasim said that despite repeated pleas, police failed to audit the certificate and instead subjected him to harassment. He also accused Saba’s brothers of misguiding the Child Welfare Committee to unlawfully secure custody of her.Wasim submitted an application to the district legal services authority naming the principal of Umrai Singh Inter College as an opposite party alleging that Saba’s brothers had produced her fraudulent birth certificate to police, projecting as issued by the same college.On April 10, the college principal submitted to the court that Saba was never enrolled there as a student. She also verified that the serial number which the fake certificate bore belonged to a caste certificate issued to one Ritesh Kumar of Kishanpur village, Wasim said.Pilibhit Kotwali SHO Satyendra Kumar said complying with the court’s order an FIR was registered on Wednesday against Saba’s three brothers and three other relatives under section 318 (4) (cheating and fraud), 352 (intentional insult), 351 (2) (criminal intimidation) and 308 (2) (extortion) of BNS.