Fake SC Certificate: How A Woman Contested Polls Six Times On SC-Reserved Seat, More Than A Decade After Converting To Islam

This correspondent has been reporting on a rampant fraudulent practice where non-Hindus and former Hindus get Scheduled Caste (SC) certificates made for themselves and grab important government posts reserved for the SC community.

In the first case reported here, a woman, who was born to SC parents in New Delhi but converted to Islam after marrying a Muslim man in 1997, fought and won Zila Panchayat polls from Haridwar in Uttarakhand in 2015. After a legal battle of five years, the Uttarakhand State Caste Scrutiny Committee declared her SC certificate as “not valid” as she was not SC anymore. The woman was suspended from the post, and a first information report (FIR) was filed against her. However, she was never arrested.

In the second case reported here, a woman, who was born to SC parents and similarly converted to Islam after marrying a Muslim man several decades ago, fought and won Zila Panchayat polls in her native Bijnor district in Uttar Pradesh (UP) in 2015. While the National Commission for Scheduled Castes directed the Bijnor administration to cancel her SC certificate arguing that only practising Hindus are entitled to it and the woman had even availed of the Haj subsidy by virtue of being a Muslim, the Bijnor superintendent of police (SP) has refused to act saying ‘once an SC, always an SC’ (more on this in our next report).

In the third case reported here, a man, who was born Hindu but converted to Islam more than two decades ago, fought and won Zila Panchayat polls using his old SC Hindu identity. He was suspended from his post a year later when the election tribunal held his election null and void, noting that SC benefits are not meant for non-Hindus.

In the fourth case, we bring you the story of a woman, who was born to SC parents but converted to Islam for marrying a Muslim man, misused her old identity 14 years later for getting an SC certificate made. Using the fraudulently-obtained document, she fought elections on SC-reserved seats as many as six times times.

The woman was named Babli, before she converted to Islam in 1995 at the age of 18 and married Mohammed Akram of village Bhogli in Nagina town of Bijnor district in Uttar Pradesh. She was renamed Gulshan Jahan.

A letter by Tehsildar of Nagina town in Bijnor addressed to District Magistrate, dated 25 April 2009, states that an inquiry has revealed that Gulshan got an SC certificate made after hiding personal details like her current religion and name of her husband. She used her father’s name Puran Singh to get the caste certificate made. However, for enrolling her name in the voters’ list, she gave her husband’s name. She did that to fight Lok Sabha polls in 2009.

In the letter, the Tehsildar further states that the woman’s SC certificate, that was issued to her on 7 February 2009, has been declared invalid with immediate effect.

No FIR however was filed against either Gulshan or the authorities responsible for issuing her the caste certificate. The result was that she went on to repeat the malpractice several times in the years to come.

In 2018, the same Dalit organisation that exposed her fraud in 2009, Vishwa Dalit Parishad, again complained against her. This was after it emerged that Gulshan Jahan fought Zila Panchayat polls in 2018, again on an SC-reserved seat. The complaint mentioned the name of then Tehsildar Parmanand Jha as the person who had issued her the caste certificate. Gulshan fought the by-poll from Ward number 51 of Burhanpur block, but finished second.

Once again, inquiry by authorities found her caste certificate to be invalid, and directed action against her.

A 2019 letter by the Additional DM addressed to the Deputy Collector states that an inquiry by the police has found that Gulshan Jahan hid her personal details yet again to get the caste certificate made. The letter states that Gulshan has been previously found to have fought polls on SC-reserved in 2009 (Lok Sabha), 2010 (Zila Panchayat), 2012 (Vidhan Sabha), 2015 (Zila Panchayat) and 2017 (Vidhan Sabha) too. The letter directs the relevant authorities to cancel the certificate and take action against the woman.

Bhupendra Pal Singh ‘Chamar’, president of the Dalit organisation, however, told Swarajya that till date, neither the new caste certificate of Gulshan has been cancelled nor an FIR filed against her for the repeated offence.

“The administration does not take these issues as seriously as they should. Are we supposed to run from pillar to post every time she illegally contests elections?” he said.