Sold Like Property: The Rs 10 Lakh Child Trafficking Scandal That Needs to End

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu):  The business of selling children like property is growing rapidly across the country. People from rich families are buying children by spending lakhs of rupees. You will be surprised to know that a child is being sold for about 7 to 10 lakh rupees. Delhi Police has arrested many people of the child selling gang.

The 2,000-page chargesheet filed by the Delhi Police this month names 11 accused, including six women. The police have sketched out a shocking story of how poor families in tribal areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat were targeted and newborn sons were bought for Rs 1.5 lakh and sold to rich families in Delhi for Rs 5 to 10 lakh. This came to light when the child was brought to Delhi from a tribal village in Rajasthan when he was just 4 days old. His poverty-stricken parents were already struggling to raise multiple children. By the time the police recovered him, he was in a car parked in a busy market and had already been sold. This child is one of the three children caught by the Delhi Police as part of an investigation that exposed a major child trafficking racket. Most of the women running this trafficking racket are those who were once egg donors. Now a case of conspiracy and corruption is going on against them. All three children are with the Child Welfare Committee and the police are searching for the fourth child.

DCP (Dwarka) Ankit Singh said, "They were talking of a deal between Rs 5-10 lakh." The baby was born in Rajasthan and was brought to Delhi soon after birth. Yasmin, who worked as a "carrier", was paid Rs 1.5 lakh for the baby, while Anjali and Jitendra were to finalise the deal with a Delhi family. The baby, who was taken from one state to another a day after birth, developed jaundice and was admitted to the ICU due to other complications. "A woman constable accompanied the baby while he was in the hospital. Later, the baby recovered completely," the officer said. Later, the police traced the baby's real father, who was unemployed and has four children. Police caught him near Udaipur and he confessed to selling the baby. Investigators found that the gang had sold four babies in a year and all were sons. Another officer said that they used to look for pregnant women in tribal areas and the deal was finalised just before or after the birth of the child. He said, 'The demand for newborn sons less than 30 days old is very high.'

On April 30, Pooja Singh was arrested from a rented flat in Karkardooma. The Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance of the arrests on April 21 and called it a "major operation", directing the Delhi Police to intensify the search and arrest the remaining culprits. Over the next few weeks, teams led by Sub Inspector Rakesh and ASI Kartar Singh used a variety of methods, from digital forensics to field work, to nab the other accused. Jyoti and Saroj, who had already been caught in child trafficking cases in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, were arrested from Vikaspuri in Delhi. Ranjeet, who contacted poor families, was arrested from Rajasthan. One such call led the police to a businessman in Madipur in west Delhi. Police say the businessman had bought a "son" this year for about Rs 8 lakh. "He had three daughters. He wanted a son to take over the shoe business," another officer said.

The child, who was two months old at that time, was recovered and the trader was arrested. Another child was recovered from Gulabi Bagh where he was sold to a 40-year-old transporter. All the accused earned Rs 35,000 per child. Police said that the families were lied to that the adoption process had been completed legally. Vimala also gave them fake affidavits.

After Puja, the second biggest member of the gang is 59-year-old Vimala. 36-year-old Anjali was also with them, against whom a CBI case has been filed for child trafficking. The middlemen who brought children from rural areas are Jitendra and Ranjit. All are in jail under judicial custody. The Delhi Police investigation began in March when Inspector Vishvendra Chaudhary in Uttar Nagar received information. After 20 days of surveillance and checking phone records, they got their first success. On April 8, Yasmin (30), Anjali and Jitendra were caught when they were leaving in a car to sell the child.

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