Indian Woman sells baby

February 24, 2009 by Baby Chums
Filed under: News, Weird

An Indian woman aged just 20 and in the depths of poverty sold her newborn son to a childless couple for 6,000 rupees (120 dollars).

Rajitha, delivered the baby by Cesarean section last week in the town of Kothagudem and could not afford the 2,000 rupee (40 dollar) hospital fee. She sold the baby to pay medical bill for the birth.

The driver of a rickshaw gave her money for the baby, which he planned to raise with his wife. The couple have no children.

The incident occurred in the parliamentary constituency of India’s minister of state for women and child development Renuka Chowdhury.

Police interrogated the woman in the local hospital, 270 kilometers (170 miles) from the state capital Hyderabad, where she told them her husband had abandoned her and she had no means to support herself and a baby.

Police said they would take action against the hospital.

“Buying and selling a baby is an offence, so we will be booking cases,” Kothagudem revenue division officer P. Rajaram said.

Welfare officials want the baby to be reunited with his mother so she can breastfeed him. They said the mother and child would then be shifted to a state-run facility where Rajitha can decide if she wants to put the baby up for adoption.