Child sale: Poor couple in Odisha held for allegedly selling three children

Reported by Santosh Jagdev
Bhubaneswar, July 16:

Commissionerate Police in Odisha today detained a couple for allegedly selling their three children to earn  good money.

The matter came to light after Rulina Patra, Counselor of Ruchika Childline Bhubaneswar today lodged a complaint with the Kharvela Nagar Police station here requesting to take necessary steps to rescue all the three children allegedly sold by their parents for money.

Ms Patra in her complaint said Shyama Chandra Rao and his wife Pramila, both daily wagers, who stay in the Press Colony slum in the city, are the biological parents of seven children. Two of them are dead and three (all sons)  have been sold to different persons in the past to earn money.

The couple sold their third son, a 22-day-old baby, for Rs 6000 to one Ranjit Choudhuri and his wife Chandini of Samastipur area in Bihar recently, Ms Patra said in her complaint.

Their first son was sold to a person who lives in Kolkata and the second was sold to a person who lives in Odisha, Ms Patra added.

The complaint report was lodged following an order from the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) Khordha.

“We have requested the police to recue all three children soon and produce them before Child Welfare Committee (CWC) for suitable order and to take necessary legal action against the couple for teh criminal act of selling their children,” Ms Patra said.

The couple, poor daily labourers, however said they sold their sons not for money but in order to ensure their children’s long life.