The Indian Express: Patna: Saturday,
08 August 2020.
A Bihar
RTI activist has been running from pillar to post, saying his minor son was
framed and shown as an adult by police who arrested him five months ago and
charged him in an Arms Act case with two others. His son has been in Buxar jail
ever since. The RTI activist, who complained to the state DGP before the
lockdown over the pandemic, said his 14-year-old son, after appearing for one
of the papers of the Class X examinations on February 29, hitched a ride with
two men, from his village, on a motorcycle which was stopped by police in the
Rajpur area of Buxar.
The
police claimed they recovered a country-made pistol from the activist’s son and
a live cartridge each from the two men. All three were arrested and sent to
Buxar jail. While the men were released on bail later, his son, the activist
says, is still behind bars. He says his son secured an overall of 83 per cent
marks in the five papers he took before his arrest – he still had one paper to
take. The boy, according to his school records, was born in April 2006. The
activist, who has been fighting corruption at the local level, alleged his son
was framed by the very people he was trying to unmask, and that they were in
league with the local police.
He said
over the last five years he had filed several RTI applications to uncover
alleged irregularities in the Bihar government’s flagship scheme, Saat Nischay
(on village roads, sanitation and drinking water), MNREGA and paddy procurement
by the Primary Agriculture Credit Society (PACS) under the Cooperative
Department.
“My son
was framed because I had sought paddy procurement details… How can police
declare my minor son an adult? Can anyone believe the police story of a boy
returning from an examination centre with a pistol?” he said.
One of
his RTI applications into a road project led to a Vigilance probe. He also
uncovered a case of children holding MNREGA job cards. “Local panchayat
functionaries framed me in a SC/ST Act case seven months ago, but I was given a
clean chit. They then hatched a conspiracy to trap my innocent son,” he said.
Lalan
Pandey, the lawyer who has been approached by the activist, said: “We were not
able to take up the matter because of the constant lockdown and closure of
court. The local police did nothing to rectify the mistake of declaring the boy
an adult. We have approached the Juvenile Justice Board and will be submitting
a letter from the school stating his correct date of birth.”
Police
have no explanation why or how the Class X student was declared an adult and
sent to jail. Rajpur police station ASI Mahesh Prasad Singh, complainant in the
case, told The Indian Express: “I have little role to play in this. I did what
I was asked to do”. Rajpur police station in-charge Ranjit Kumar
When his
comments were sought, Bihar Director General of Police Gupteshwar Pandey said:
“We have taken serious note of the Rajpur case. We are getting it thoroughly
investigated. I had referred the matter to the Buxar SP when the boy’s father
had approached me before the lockdown. I am seeking an update.”
Buxar SP
Upendra Nath Verma told The Indian Express: “I have asked the local police
station to look into the matter of how a minor was shown as an adult and the
circumstances in which a teenaged boy is facing a case. I am also going to meet
the boy’s father.”
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