A couple in the Araria district of Bihar sold their one-and-a-half-year-old son for ₹9,000 to settle a loan taken from private moneylenders, who were harassing them to repay the amount.

The police got wind of it and recovered the child while the buyer was planning to take him to Bangalore. The police did not register any FIR till the filing of the report.

The incident unfolded in Raniganj on October 30, when Mohammad Haroon and his wife Rehana of Pachira panchayat sold their son Mohammad Gufran to Mohammad Arif of Dumaria.

The parents had taken a loan of ₹50,000 last year from one of the mushrooming micro-finance companies that have illegally sprouted across the state, especially in rural areas.

They started repaying the amount but were unable to catch up with the five per cent per month interest on the loan. Their poverty made things difficult and the “agents” of the micro-finance company started harassing them.

“We tried our best to repay the loan, but ₹9,000 was pending. The agents would often barge into our home, shout and insult us demanding the money. We felt embarrassed in front of our neighbours. There was no other option but to settle the dues, thus, we took the drastic step,” Haroon told the police.

Raniganj station house officer (SHO) Nirmal Kumar Yadvendu said that the police got information about the child being sold through social media and rumours that spread in the area.

“We recorded a sanha (non-cognisable report) with number 1141/24 on our own and investigated the matter as a part of our duty. It turned out to be true. We acted swiftly and recovered the child on Wednesday evening. It has been handed over to thedistrict child welfare committee,” Yadavendu told TheTelegraph.

The SHO confirmed that the preliminary investigation has revealed that the family had sold the child topay installments of a loan taken from a micro-finance company.

“Such micro-financecompanies lure and trapthe poor and uneducated people in debt as they are unable to figure out that theywill have to pay a hefty interest on the loan,” Yadavendu added.

However, the policehave neither registered any FIR nor arrested anybody so far, including the manwho bought the child or the people running the money-lending racket.

The SHO said: “No FIR has been registered because nobody has complained. The district child welfare committee will probe the incidentand send us a report. Wewill register an FIRon its basis and take further action, including the arrestof the people involved ifneeded.”