KRISHNAGIRI: To evade arrest in child marriage cases, family members of a few girl children have allegedly been found to be tampering with the date of birth in the (girl’s) Aadhaar card. Six such incidents came to light in Kelamangalam Block of Krishnagiri district in the past six months, according to health department.
Six underage married girls from Bettamugilalam, Koppakarai, Jakkeri and other areas in Kelamangalam block were found pregnant by the health department and the date of birth on their Aadhaar cards was allegedly found changed by their relatives.
The health department found out the issue with the support of the Pregnancy and Infant Cohort Monitoring and Evaluation (PICME) – a system deployed by the TN government to track all pregnant women –and Aadhaar seeding details on the PICME portal.
Persons registered under PICME are provided with an ID, which is used to track all aspects of the pregnancy by the health department.
According to sources, “A 14-year-old girl of Kelamangalam block was married to a 29-year-old man last October. She came to Nagamangalam Primary Health Centre in the last week of May to register her pregnancy with Aadhaar card.
A health official tried to register her data in vain. It was then found that while the PICME portal – which also has the Aadhaar details – showed the age of the girl as 14 years, the Aadhaar card in the girl’s possession showed her age as 20.”
The source said, “When the girl and her husband were questioned about the discrepancy in age, they confessed that the man had changed the Aadhaar card date of birth with a six-year difference to the original date of birth at a browsing centre in Denkanikottai for Rs 200 a few months ago in order to evade arrest. Also, the girl was referred to Hosur government hospital in the last week of May, wherein the Accident Register (AR) was recorded and the issue was communicated to Denkanikottai All Women’s Police Station.”
Another source said, “Many fake Aadhaar cards after tampering with the details were created at computer centres and photo studios for `500 per card, and in some cases the health department staff were complicit in the illegal activity.”
Sources further pointed out that two browsing centres and a photo studio at Rayakottai and Denkanikottai were involved. Kelamangalam Block Medical Officer, Dr C Rajesh Kumar, told TNIE, “A team will check the browsing centre and photo studios. Village health nurses (VHN) have already been warned about the issue and not to support child marriage cases.
Although VHNs have been made aware of the issue, still a few cases about fake Aadhaar cards have been reported to us. A few months ago, a health staff was terminated in Bettamugilalam panchayat for supporting the fraudulent activity.”
Krishnagiri District Health Officer, Dr G Ramesh Kumar, told TNIE, “All health department staff across the district will be sensitised to the issue to refrain from supporting such fraudulent activities.
As many as 545 teenage pregnancies were reported in the district from April 2024 to March 2025. More cases were reported in Shoolagiri (81), Krishnagiri rural (72) and Kelamangalam (66).”
Collector C Dinesh said he has received details about one case and a team will be constituted to take action against those involved in it.