Patna, Aug 12, 2025: After dogs, an inanimate vehicle and a foreign head of state, it is now the turn of a cat to apply for a certificate of residence in Bihar.
A prankster in Rohtas district’s Nasriganj block had applied for a residence certificate in the name of ’Cat Kumar’.
The space for photograph has a hazel-eyed feline staring into the onlooker and parents of the applicant are cheekily named ’Catty Boss’ and ’Catiya Devi’.
"An FIR has been lodged at Nasriganj police station upon instructions from District Magistrate Udita Singh, who has taken a grim view of the application dated July 29," an official said.
"The application was rejected as soon as it caught the eye of officials concerned... The DM was of the view that such frivolity hampered work, gave the administration a bad name and was tantamount to a misuse of information technology. The user is being traced with the help of mobile number and email address quoted in the application. If these are found to be fake, cyber experts will track him down through IP address," he said.
This is the fifth such incident of the kind in the state, which witnessed a scramble for residence certificates after the special intensive revision of electoral rolls was announced.
Earlier, applications in the name of canines called ’Dog babu’ and ’Dogesh babu’ met with similar administrative response in rural Patna and Nawada, respectively.
Similar was the case for ’Sonalika Tractor’, with an internet photograph of a Bhojpuri star in East Champaran.
In Samastipur, a prankster chose no less a person than US President Donald Trump, complete with his photograph and names of parents, to cock a snook at the authorities.