RANCHI: Forced by abject poverty, a couple in Jharkhand’s Gumla district sold their 5-month-old son for a paltry sum of Rs 5,000. Bajrang Nayak, a rag-picker, said he sold the child to meet the medical expenses of his wife Gudia Devi, who is a tuberculosis patient. Locals said the couple was planning to sell their three-year-old daughter Dipali Kumari, too, but they prevented them and informed the local administration.
Bajrang and Gudia Devi have four children. The two eldest — Akash Kumar (9) and Khushi Kumari (13) — work as labourers at a brick kiln in Bihar, where the couple used to work earlier. “We have four children; two of them work at a brick kiln at Bihta near Patna. For the treatment of my wife, we had to sell our youngest child,” said Bajrang.
The couple originally belongs to Bangru in Simdega. Now in Gumla, Gudia and her daughter live under the shelter of a scrap shop while Bajrang sleeps on a footpath, they said. “We were not able to take care of our newborn due to poverty,” said Gudia.
After being informed by locals, the administration directed social activists to bring the infant back. Officials have also made ration and clothes available to the couple and have arranged for the treatment of Gudia.“I have directed the city manager and ward commissioner to visit the couple to whom they have sold the child and retrieve him. In case they face any problem, the local police station will help to recover the child,” said District Supply Officer Gulam Samdani.
Livelihood opportunities will also be made available to the husband so that they don’t have to take such a step in future, he added. Sub-Divisional Officer Ravi Anand said the children working at the brick kiln were being traced and the person who mediated in sending them to work there is also being traced.