A couple who allegedly sold their newborn for Rs 2 lakh have been arrested in Narendrapur, on the southern fringes of the city, on the charges of human trafficking and abandoning the baby.
Police said a woman through whom the child had allegedly been sold has been arrested, too.
The father of the newborn is an employee at a small furniture shop and the mother is a homemaker. The identities of the “new parents” have yet to be verified.
A senior officer said they have learnt about the location of the child from the parents, who are residents of Narendrapur, and the woman who was allegedly instrumental in the sale, but the information is being verified.
“Once the information is verified, the child will be rescued and handed over to the custody of the state, according to the protocol followed in such cases,” said superintendent of police (Baruipur police district) Pushpa.
The three accused have been charged under IPC sections dealing with parents abandoning their minor child, human trafficking, selling or letting a minor on hire for the purpose of prostitution and criminal conspiracy. They have also been charged under the Juvenile Justice Act, 1995.
If convicted, they can be jailed for up to 10 years.
The alleged offence came into the public domain when the woman who allegedly helped in the baby’s sale went to the furniture shop where the child’s father worked to settle a dispute over money and ended up quarrelling with the couple in front of others.
The owner of the shop overheard the conversation and reported the matter to the police last week, an officer said.
“We received a complaint from the owner of the furniture shop on April 7. Based on the complaint, it was found that the couple had sold their baby to someone through this woman for Rs 2 lakh,” said deputy superintendent of police, (district enforcement branch) Baruipur, Mohit Mollah.
During the investigation, the police said they learnt that the child was born in February. But the “deal” to sell the child was apparently fixed months before, the police said.
“It is apparent that the parents had planned to sell the child even before its birth and had contacted the woman through whom the sale was planned,” said an officer at Narendrapur police station.
In a city where many still cannot afford a square meal a day and are forced to thrive under flyovers, handing children to a relative or an acquaintance for “better upkeep” is not uncommon. However, once the parents start accepting money for their child, it becomes “human trafficking”.
“Even if there is an exchange of money, such cases are rarely reported to the police as neither the parents nor the people who take the child ever complain. Unless chanced upon accidentally, like in this case, such instances go unreported,” said a senior police officer.
Couples or individuals who wish to adopt a child have to formally go through a process of adoption governed by the central government’s ministry of women and child development.
The arrested three were produced in a Baruipur court on Tuesday and remanded in 13 days of police custody.