Bihar Govt Suspends Official Over ‘Dog Babu’ Certificate

• A residential certificate was issued in Bihar in the name of a dog, a claim that is factually correct.
• The certificate was issued due to an official’s failure to verify a fraudulent online application, not a flaw in the system’s document validation.
• The government has cancelled the certificate, suspended the responsible official, and is pursuing legal action against the applicant.

GG News Bureau
Patna, 3rd Aug: A residential certificate issued to a dog in Masaurhi, Bihar, has gone viral on social media, sparking outrage and criticism of the state’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. While the certificate is genuine, a closer look reveals that it was a result of official negligence and not a systemic failure of the document verification process.

The viral post, which circulated widely on platforms like X, claimed that a residential certificate was issued to ‘Dog Babu,’ son of ‘Kutta Babu,’ and mother ‘Kutiya Babu,’ with the address of Mohalla Kaulichak, Masaurhi. It also correctly cited the certificate number as BRCCO/2025/15933581. The post used this as evidence to allege that the state government was accepting such fraudulent documents for the SIR process while rejecting valid ones like Aadhaar and ration cards.

Fact: A residential certificate was indeed issued in the name of “Dog Babu.” However, according to Masaurhi’s Block Development Officer (BDO), Prashant Kumar, the certificate was approved due to a significant lapse in the verification process. The application was submitted online with the fake details by a miscreant, and a concerned panchayat secretary approved it without properly checking the information.

Government Action: The Bihar government took immediate action after the incident came to light. The panchayat secretary responsible for the approval has been suspended for dereliction of duty. The residential certificate has been officially cancelled, and authorities have stated that legal action will be taken against the individual who submitted the fraudulent application. The BDO has also been issued a show-cause notice.

Allegations are Misleading: The claim that the SIR process rejects documents like Aadhaar and ration cards is misleading. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has officially stated that a wide range of documents are accepted for the revision process to ensure maximum participation and accuracy of the voter list. The incident was a case of official malpractice, not a flaw in the document verification system itself.