Rape accused blames family for changing date of birth

SHILLONG: A rape accused, who allegedly changed his date of birth to claim that he was a minor to escape punishment, maintained in his fresh affidavit that it was his family members who procured the driving license by giving fictitious date of birth of 3/6/1992 instead of 3/6/,1997.
However, this was contradicted by the latest record of the Transport department which indicated that the accused himself renewed the learner’s driving license.
Moreover, the process of securing driving license is through bio metric system which means that the presence of applicant is necessary.
Earlier, the mother of the rape victim, a minor girl, filed a petition in the High Court of Meghalaya seeking legal redress.
The petitioner through available documents pointed out that the date of birth of the accused is 3/6/1992 and not  June 3,1997 as claimed by the accused.
The 14-year-old girl was allegedly raped by the accused Raymidi Kharsahnoh (21) hailing from Upper Shillong in 2013.
In his affidavit, while referring to his birth at Ganesh Das Hospital on 3.6.1992 as pointed out by the petitioner based on the records from the hospital, the accused said that in fact the child born on 3.6.1992 survived only for three months and the burial was held at village graveyard and it was after five years (1997) that he was born.
The affidavit of the accused further claimed that the Church does not keep the burial records of children below six months. The affidavit also blamed the police for ‘manufacturing’ his date of birth as 3.6. 1992 when the case was taken up, instead of 3.6. 1997.
Earlier, after the accused was shown as a minor, his case was transferred from a civil court to Juvenile Justice Board which helped him to escape punishment.