bdnews24.com :
Birth registration was paused for weeks due to new conditions and software update early this year, but 18 certificates were issued in this period in Chattogram.
Assistant birth registrars and ward councillors of Chattogram City Corporation say they were in the dark about how the certificates were issued. It is also unclear who received the certificates.
The police’s Counterterrorism and Transnational Crime or CTTC unit is investigating three cases over the incidents at ward No. 16 in Chawkbazar, No. 40 in Patenga and No. 41 in South Patenga.
CTTC Sub-Inspector Swapan Kumar Sarker, who is investigating the incidents, said the assistant registrars of birth suspect the software had been hacked, but the police are certain someone used their IDs and passwords to issue the certificates.
The assistant registrars started the cases on Jun 9, saying the certificates were issued on Feb 14, although the online registration was suspended from Feb 8. They came to know about the incidents when the registration resumed on Mar 1 with new passwords.
It is taking time to identify and catch the culprits due to the coronavirus crisis, SI Swapan said, adding he hoped significant progress in the investigation soon.
The people for whom the certificates were issued age between 11 and 40. Eight of them are male and 10 are female.
After registration online, assistant registrars forward the information to ward councillors for further verification. After the councillors send back the information with a registration number, the assistant registrars print the certificates and finally the councillors sign the papers.
Saleh Ahmed Chowdhury, councillor of ward No. 41, said the cases were started following the city corporation’s instructions after officials came to know about the issue.
SI Swapan said officials found out about the matter when they saw there was no entry on the 18 certificates in the manual register at the councillors’ offices.
The police have asked the Office of the Registrar General, Birth and Death Registration for the IP address of the computer that was used to log in to the platform and issue the certificates, but there is no reply yet, he said.
“We’re working to confirm whether a single person or a group did it.”
Birth certificate is now required for passport and national ID card. Concerns have grown recently with a number of Myanmar Rohingya refugees caught with NID cards and passports taken by using fake birth certificates, mostly issued in Chattogram and Cox’s Bazar.
The investigator said they were checking if the birth certificates were issued to some Rohingya.
