A 35-year-old woman was arrested after she allegedly sold her 11-day-old baby to another lady in West Bengal’s South
The mother of the infant, identified as Shukla Das, was a widow and she gave her baby to a childless woman in Kolkata.
According to the police, Das had lost her husband five years ago. She had her baby with her neighbour with whom she had an affair after her husband’s death.
Fearing social stigma, she said she made the decision to sell the child, according to the Times of India.
The police was alerted by the neighbors, who later rescued the baby and sent the infant to at a shelter home run by West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
Four people have been arrested in the case till now including the mother.
The others are the woman who “adopted" the baby, and a couple who acted as middle agents and arranged the entire “deal." They also took a massive cut from the transaction money for their alleged services, TOI said.
The accused have been booked under Section 317, pertaining to abandonment of child under 12 years, 370 (buying or disposing of any person), 372 (selling a minor) and 120 B, hatching a criminal conspiracy of the Indian Penal Court along with section 88 of the Juvenile Justice Act.
They were arrested on the same day a couple in the state sold their eight-month-old baby to buy an iPhone for creating reels on Instagram.
In this case, the Bengal police has till now ow arrested the mother, identified as Sathi, and the woman who bought the baby, while the father is on the run.
Upon interrogation, the mother admitted to their crime, and informed that she and her husband wanted to use the money to take trips to places in the state so that they can create content for Instagram reels.