Mother sells newborn girl, five arrested

Chennai: Five women have been put behind bars for allegedly selling a newborn girl in the Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu. One of them is the baby's maternal grandmother and all others are agents.

Investigators say the 20-year-old mother from Palani has confessed to having given the baby to a childless couple from Salem district through a mediator citing poverty and her condition as a single mother. Estranged from her husband, she is dependent on her mother for support.

The baby has been traced at a hospital in Bangalore where the couple is treating her for infection. Police have obtained an undertaking from them that they would return her once she recovers.

The childless couple have told the police that they had paid Rs one lakh as price through a mediator and promised an additional Rs 50,000 as commission for the agents once they got them a birth certificate for the child. But the brokers had so far paid only Rs 30,000 to the biological mother.

The sale of baby came to light after the young mother sent word to her husband that their newborn died soon after birth to cover up the sale. When the man approached, his wife and mother-in-law gave conflicting versions. Sensing something fishy the man also checked with many hospitals and finally obtained a copy of the birth certificate issued to his baby. Armed with documentary evidence he approached the police.

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The police have registered a case of illegal adoption against the mother and the couple who bought the baby. All others are facing charges of illegal confinement and abetting.

In the year 1992, when several pockets of Tamil Nadu witnessed female infanticide, the state government had launched the Cradle Baby Scheme. A brain child of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, cradles were placed at hospitals and public places so parents of unwanted babies could leave them in. More than 3000 girls and 500 boys were saved by giving them in adoption for interested couples in India and abroad.

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