KEY POINTS

  • A 25-year-old woman in India sold her 1-year-old daughter to a childless couple for around $3,330
  • She was later arrested and charged along with the couple and several other co-conspirators
  • The woman's child was sent to a specialized adoption agency following her rescue

Police in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu arrested a woman this week after she allegedly sold her 1-year-old daughter for more than $3,000 as the mother was preparing to get married for the third time.

The woman, identified as a 25-year-old Sevalpatti resident named Kalaiselvi, sold her daughter to a couple from the city of Madurai Monday for Rs 2.5 lakh ($3,330) on the advice of several brokers, The Times of India reported.

Kalaiselvi received Rs 2 lakh ($2,665) from the transaction, while the brokers got the remaining Rs 50,000 ($665). The woman, who lost her first husband and was abandoned by her second husband, made the deal as she was preparing to get married for the third time, according to preliminary investigations.

Soolakarai police learned of the incident after villagers discovered the sale and reported it Wednesday to India's child care and help protection helpline, Childline 1098.

Authorities rescued the child from the buyers, identified as Karupasamy, 40, and Priya, 36, and took the girl to the Child Welfare Committee before she was sent to a specialized adoption agency in Madurai.

Police then arrested the couple as well as Kalaiselvi over the incident. They also arrested one unidentified person, a car driver named Karthik and Priya's father Karuppasamy, along with the middlemen Nandhakumar, Shenbagarajan, Maheswari and Mariammal.

Additionally, authorities seized two cars allegedly involved in the crime.

A case has since been registered against all the accused under sections 34 (common intention), 317 (child abandonment) and 370 (human trafficking) of the Indian Penal Code, as well as section 81 (sale and procurement of a child) of the Juvenile Justice Act.

In a similar story, a 40-year-old woman in Afghanistan sold one of her newborn twins to a couple for $104 so she could continue to feed her eight other children.

"We have nothing, so how could I take care of them (both)?" the woman, identified only as Bibi, said.

Bibi's husband, Mohammed, also supported the decision.

"We need help, we are hungry and poor. There are no work opportunities in Afghanistan. We have children. We need flour and oil the most, which we don't have. It's also good to have firewood. I could not afford to buy meat in the last two or three months. We only have bread for the children which is not always available," he said.

Around 97% of Afghanistan's population will plunge into poverty by mid-2022 following the Taliban's takeover of the country, according to a report by the non-profit organization Save the Children.

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Representation. Authorities in India have filed a case against 10 people accused of being involved in the sale of a 1-year-old girl, which included the child's mother. Pixabay