Poverty said to be the cause of the sale of the newborn girl

Four days after she was delivered of a baby girl in a Palakkad hospital, the newborn was allegedly traded for Rs. 1,00,000 to a Pollachi-based childless couple by her near-impoverished family.

The shocking incident came to light around a month after the deal when the mother returned to her parental home without the baby and told neighbours that she entrusted the child to a family at Pollachi to bring her up. Based on her confession, the district police registered a case and started a search for the infant’s father Rajan and paternal grandmother who brokered the deal. A coolie worker, Rajan was temporarily employed with a coconut grove in Pollachi. Search is also on for the infant and the childless couple in Pollachi.

According to the Alathur police and Palakkad District Child Welfare Committee, Bindu Rajan (31) of Kunissery gave birth to her fifth child at Government District Hospital in Palakkad on December 25 last year. She was discharged from the hospital on December 29 and then taken to Pollachi by her husband and mother-in-law Biji. Bindu returned to her parental home two days ago without the infant.

The local people informed the district child rights committee and NGO Thanal about the suspected sale.

Preliminary probe

A preliminary investigation by the committee found that the family sold the infant for Rs. 1,00,000.

The deal was made without the consent and knowledge of Bindu’s parents. When the police grilled Bindu, she confessed to the sale and said it was necessitated by the near-poverty of her family.

She told the police that her husband and mother-in-law convinced her that the money from the deal could be used for the welfare of their other children aged between three and 15.