Based on the findings of a bone ossification test which it had ordered, a Delhi court has allowed a girl to return to her husband while disposing off her father’s plea claiming that she was a minor.
Four months ago, the girl, a Hindu, converted to Islam to marry the man. On July 8, The Indian Express had first reported the plea moved by the girl’s father. He had claimed that his daughter’s nikahnama and mehar certificate — the money paid by the groom specified in Islamic marriage — and the conversion certificate issued by an Imam were based on a false date of birth.
The father had produced the girl’s school certificate, claiming that she was born in 1999 and not 1997 as mentioned in the girl’s nikahnama. Under rule 12 of Delhi Juvenile Justice Act (Care and Protection of Children 2000), the court had summoned the school principal to give evidence of the same.
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“The date of birth as recorded in the school’s admission and withdrawal register is 15.02.1997. But the girl’s parents claimed her date of birth is 28.03.1999, based on the certificate issued by the above said school,” the court had said.
However, the principal deposed that the girl’s father had come to the school after she went ‘missing’. He had “insisted upon changing the date of birth record of the girl…” “On that premise, without verifying the records which were with the school accountant, a certificate was issued mentioning the date of birth as 28 March, 1999,” the principal deposed.
The girl’s father then claimed that he got married only after 1997 and it was not possible for his daughter to be born before this. However, police who visited the girl’s village in Uttar Pradesh found no records to prove that the marriage took place after 1997. The court then ordered a bone ossification test of the girl.
After the government hospital submitted the report, the court observed, “The bone ossification test has been filed by the investigating officer. After general, physical, dental and radiological examination, the girl’s age is found to be between 18 years and 20 years… The girl entreats this court that she wants to live with her husband. Therefore, she may be released from Nirmal Chaya, where she had been residing for close to two months.”
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“Considering the bone ossification as well as school records of the girl, she ostensibly appears to be above 18 years. She is at liberty to decide her future stay. Application in hand stands disposed of,” Metropolitan Magistrate Navjeet Budhiraja ordered. The girl has now returned to her husband, who resides in South District in the capital.
On May 8, the Delhi Police had registered as case of kidnapping after the girl went missing from her school in a Southeast Delhi area. She returned a month later, having married a Muslim man. Her father then moved court. The court has now directed police to proceed further with the investigation in the kidnapping case as per law.
Kaunain Sheriff M is an award-winning investigative journalist and the National Health Editor at The Indian Express. He is the author of Johnson & Johnson Files: The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant, an investigation into one of the world’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies.
With over a decade of experience, Kaunain brings deep expertise in three areas of investigative journalism: law, health, and data. He currently leads The Indian Express newsroom’s in-depth coverage of health.
His work has earned some of the most prestigious honours in journalism, including the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award, and the Mumbai Press Club’s Red Ink Award.
Kaunain has also collaborated on major global investigations. He was part of the Implant Files project with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which exposed malpractices in the medical device industry across the world. He also contributed to an international investigation that uncovered how a Chinese big-data firm was monitoring thousands of prominent Indian individuals and institutions in real time.
Over the years, he has reported on several high-profile criminal trials, including the Hashimpura massacre, the 2G spectrum scam, and the coal block allocation case. Within The Indian Express, he has been honoured three times with the Indian Express Excellence Award for his investigations—on the anti-Sikh riots, the Vyapam exam scam, and the abuse of the National Security Act in Uttar Pradesh. ... Read More
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