By Arun Pratap Singh
Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 11 Nov: The controversy surrounding the identity of the biological father of the child born to Jenny, also known as Indira Deori, nearly 22 years ago has once again heated up the political atmosphere in Uttarakhand. While, senior Congress leader Harak Singh and some other Congress leaders have claimed that Jenny’s child’s birth certificate carries some Rajkumar Tiwari as father’s name, sources at Nagar Nigam have claimed that Jenny’s son Anshu’s birth certificate does not carry any father’s name. With the emergence of the child’s birth certificate, several unanswered questions are now being raised in political circles as well as on social media, with people attempting to interpret the available documents and circumstances in their own ways. Sources have claimed that the birth certificate issued by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (Doon Nagar Nigam) in 2004, does not mention the father’s name even today.
According to the birth certificate that has now come to light, the Dehradun Municipal Corporation issued a birth registration certificate bearing a registration number on 22 January, 2004, for a child who had been born approximately six months earlier. The place of birth was recorded as the Women’s Hospital at Doon Hospital, while the mother’s permanent address was mentioned as Nari Niketan, Dehradun. The document has assumed significance in view of the renewed controversy surrounding the identity of the child’s father and the fresh allegations levelled by Jenny against former Uttarakhand Cabinet Minister and senior Congress leader Harak Singh Rawat.
According to the sources, Jenny, under the name Indira, had submitted an affidavit to the Municipal Corporation on 9 August, 2011, Jenny, seeking registration of the child’s name as Master Anshu in the birth records. The affidavit was reportedly submitted in the name of Jenny Indira, wife of Raj Kumar Tiwari, resident of Nari Niketan. On the basis of this affidavit, the child’s name was subsequently entered as Anshu in the municipal birth records on 9 August 2011. However, even though the child’s name was incorporated into the records nearly seven years after the original registration, the column meant for recording the father’s name was left blank. Remarkably, the father’s name has still not been entered in the birth certificate.
The absence of the father’s name in a birth certificate issued nearly 22 years ago has raised several questions, particularly in the context of the allegations that have now resurfaced. The document has become an important point of discussion following Jenny’s recent press conference in Dehradun, during which she reiterated her allegations against Harak Singh Rawat and sought a fresh investigation, including another DNA test, to establish the paternity of her son. Rawat, on the other hand, has rejected the allegations, maintaining that the CBI had already investigated the matter and that the DNA test conducted during the earlier investigation did not establish any biological relationship between him and the child.
According to the Registrar responsible for birth and death registrations in the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, a birth certificate can indeed be issued without the father’s name if the mother submits an affidavit clearly stating that she wants the child’s birth to be registered solely in her name. In such circumstances, the father’s name need not necessarily be mentioned in the birth registration records. The circumstances surrounding the original registration, the subsequent addition of the child’s name in 2011 and the continued absence of the father’s name have added another layer to the questions being raised in connection with the 22-year-old case. With the matter once again attracting political and public attention, the documentary records and the circumstances in which they were prepared are likely to remain a subject of scrutiny.
