Infant trafficking gangs busted near Medak hospitals, staff acted as facilitators
Police and ICDS officials busted three infant trafficking cases in Medak district over the past three months. Investigations revealed hospital staff and middlemen allegedly facilitated illegal infant sales, targeting financially vulnerable tribal families and childless couples seeking adoption.
Medak: The gangs that were facilitating the sale of infants were on the prowl in and around both government and private maternity hospitals across Medak district. The Medak police, and Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) officials have busted three such sales of infants in Medak district during the past three months. Shockingly, the staff working in the hospitals were acting as facilitators for the sale of the infants.
The childless parents were approaching the staff, who were interested in making some money by acting as facilitators. In the first incident reported in February this year, a tribal couple of Lingasanipally Thanda, sold their just born son to a childless couple
from Kamareddy district, for Rs 1.70 lakh. When the Anganwadi teacher and ANM inquired about the missing infant, they had tracked down the infant in Kamareddy. The police arrested the persons who were involved in the sales.
In a shocking incident reported in a private hospital in Medak town, the staff of care hospital in Medak had misled the parents and convinced them that their baby girl died immediately after the birth in April this year. They further informed them that they
disposed of the body. However, the couple lodged a complaint a few days later and a whistleblower in the hospital alerted the couple. During the inquiry, the police found that the staff sold the infant Rs 3 lakh to a couple from Siddipet.
In a similar incident reported, another tribal woman, who had given birth to her fourth child, had sold the infant to a childless couple from Siddipet with the help of a middleman for Rs 3 lakh. However, the middlemen cheated the parents by just giving Rs 40,000
and the facilitators shared the rest between them. Following a complaint from a local Anganwadi teacher and ANM, the police launched a probe and cracked the case. The police have nabbed 10 persons in connection with the case on Wednesday.
Since most of the tribal women were giving birth to multiple children due to lack of proper knowledge on family planning, these parents were becoming soft targets for brokers. They move around the tribal villages and identify the couples facing financial struggles. These three incidents have underlined the importance of increasing the focus on such activities in Medak, to arrest the trade of infants.
