Poverty-stricken woman sells three-month-old girl child to a couple in Tamil Nadu; case booked

Nanjangud: Less than a year after the Mysuru Police busted a child sale racket in Nanjangud, H.D. Kote and Holenarasipur where babies were rescued from the illegal adoptive parents, the gang still thrives. Though arrests are made, there have been repeated incidents of baby selling and such incidents demonstrate how the law enforcement agencies have failed to systematically uproot the racket.

Another incident of child sale has surfaced again in Nanjangud where a poverty-stricken woman sold her three-month-old baby for Rs. 1.20 lakh to a childless couple in Tamil Nadu. Though the incident occurred in 2020, it was unearthed now and a Police complaint has been lodged.

It may be recalled here that in July 2021, the Mysuru District Police busted a racket where babies as young as one month were sold to either relatives or childless couples through middlemen. In August 2021 too, a couple of arrests were made where women who acted as mediators between the childless couple and the actual parents of the child were put behind bars. In the 2020 case that has come to light now, Mangalagowri, a daily wage worker and a resident of Suttur near Nanjangud, sold her three-month-old girl baby to a couple in Tamil Nadu through Jayamma and lawyer Santhu of Suttur.

Deal was struck in June 2020

According to a Police complaint filed by Nanjangud Asst. Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) T. Parashuram, the deal was struck at Rs. 1.20 lakh in June 2020 and Jayamma and lawyer Santhu acted as middlemen.

Mangalagowri had married one Ravi three to four years before 2020 and had twin girl children. Both were daily wage labourers and were struggling to eke out a living. Ravi soon developed a drinking habit and as he turned a chronic alcoholic, he died one-and-a-half years before 2020.

Later, Mangalagowri started a relationship with her brother-in-law Seena and they had another girl baby. Unable to find work at Suttur, Mangalagowri used to travel to Mysuru daily and she left her children with Venkatamma, their grandmother. Mangalagowri used to do masonry in Mysuru.

Officers visit Sutturon suspicion

Though the Police complaint does not mention how the child sale deal was struck, CDPO Parashuram has mentioned that the sale came to light when a team of Child Development Officers visited Suttur on Jan. 1 based on suspicion and definite information that the young one has been sold.

During the visit, officers found that Mangalagowri had two children though the records showed that she has three girl children. She fumbled for answers when questioned and the officers later learnt that the child was sold to a couple in Tamil Nadu through Jayamma and lawyer Santhu.

The officers took the other two children and hand them over to Chayadevi Adoption Agency in Mysuru for their safety. The complaint has been lodged to seek legal action against Mangalagowri, Jayamma and lawyer Santhu and the Tamil Nadu couple who purchased the baby. In a well-oiled racket, racketeers flout the extremely stringent adoption rules in India and indulge in forgery and falsification of documents. Poverty of the biological parents and the childless state of couples are the main weapons of the racketeers. Child selling and buying is illegal & all adoptions must be made through Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA).