Tribal couple booked after selling baby girl in Warangal

A one-month-old baby girl was allegedly sold by her parents to a childless couple, with the Nekkonda police registering a case against the baby's parents and three others.

Warangal: A one-month-old baby girl was allegedly sold by her parents to a childless couple, with the Nekkonda police on Tuesday registering a case against the baby’s parents and three others.

Though the incident happened on November 14 at Nekkonda, the deal had come to light only on Tuesday, police said, adding that the mother of the baby, a tribal woman hailing from a thanda in Nekkonda mandal had given to the baby on November 3 at a private hospital in Mahabubabad. Since she was the second girl child for the couple, they decided to sell her. Learning about this, two others from the same thanda, Bhukya Kasna and Orre Sahadev, approached them offering money. Agreeing to the proposal, the couple handed over the baby to one Parashuramulu from Ramnagar of Hyderabad when the infant was just 11 days old.

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Police, who have arraigned the baby’s father as the first accused in the case, said the news of the baby being sold had leaked in the village, prompting officials from the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and Child Protection Wing to visit the thanda and conduct an inquiry.

“The woman and her husband even tried to mislead the Anganwadi teacher and ASHA worker claiming that the baby died of illness immediately after delivery. But when officials grilled them during inquiry on December 12, they confessed that they had given the baby to some people,” an ICDS officer told ‘Telangana Today’.

“They have a girl as their first child. Since the second baby was also a girl, they wanted to sell it. It is learned that the woman had earlier aborted a pregnancy after learning that it was a female child,” she said.

Following the sale, ICDS supervisor Kummari Vasanthi lodged a complaint with the Nekkonda police on December 13. Based on the complaint, the police registered a case under the Section 370 of IPC, and Section 81 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2016, and have taken up investigation. The amount for which the baby was sold is yet to be known.

Incidentally, a couple from the same mandal had sold their baby girl for Rs.1 lakh to a childless couple in March this year. The Nekkonda police registered a case against 10 people in connection with that case. A three-day-old baby boy was also sold for Rs.1 lakh to a childless couple of Hasanparthy mandal of Hanamkonda from a tribal woman of Narsampet mandal in Warangal in June 2021.