A Saudi national discovered he had a son who was officially registered under his name by a family some 21 years ago. “What about your son Bandar?,” the man was asked by the Civil Status staff when he was attempting to get an ID card for his own daughter. “What son?” he replied. Taken by surprise, the man reported the case in complete denial to Makkah police, thinking there was a mistake to be corrected. The police investigated the case and found that actual Bandar was leading a normal life under his pseudo father name, Bandr Saud Al-Bishi. Bandar was actually half Saudi and half Indian. His real Saudi father, 40, and Indian mother plotted with the private hospital where he was born to register him under Al-Bishi's name. According to the police investigation, the hospital filed a fake birth report to the authorities and the son was registered under Bishi's name, automatically granting him the Saudi nationality and the full family name of Al-Bishi for the last 21 years. It was unclear yet why the parents registered their biological son under someone else's name. The parents were immediately arrested and detained at Briman Prison here. They are going to face forgery charges. Bishi also filed a lawsuit against the hospital charging it with illegal assistance to register the son under his name. “The case is still under investigation,” said Mahmoud Abduljawad, assistant director of medical permits at the Jeddah Health Department. “I don't know how registration procedures were done 21 years ago,” he said. “But it is now more complicated to play around registering a baby's birth with the Civil Status or Passports Department offices,” he said. Fathers are now required to be physically present with their national IDs or residency permits to register the birth with the hospital, he said. Then the paperwork is referred to the health department for a meticulous verification process before issuing the birth certificate, he added. Once issued, the father again physically takes it to the Civil Status department for Saudis or the Passports Department for foreign residents to officially add the baby to the official family records. Fahd Mahboob, legal consultant, has advised Al-Bishi to pursue the case against the parents and the hospital for identity theft. Al-Bishi could also request a DNA test to prove that he had nothing to do with the ‘son', the consultant added. The parents are awaiting trial on forgery charges. – Okaz/SG __
