The Hindu : Other States / Bihar News : Hunger forces woman to sell son

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 14, 2004

Other States

Other States - Bihar

Hunger forces woman to sell son

By K.Balchand

HAJIPUR, SEPT. 13. The two- and- half- month- old had not even been named. Nobody knows the whereabouts of the nameless baby. The infant has been sold off. The thought that he no longer faces the threat of death could be a big consolation. The tragic incident narrates the plight of a Dalit family in a faltered system. Lal Babu Paswan, 35, is bedridden with tuberculosis. He is more desolate now after the death of a two- year- old boy from malnutrition and his wife "vanishing'' after selling off their third child without his knowledge.

Dhiran Devi, wife of Lal Babu Paswan, left her one- room Indira Awas house located in the Ambedkar Colony in this township last Monday and returned on Saturday to announce to the shock of her husband and neighbours of having given off her child for just Rs. 6000 to some women in Patori village of Samastipur district.

Lal Babu does not hide the fact that he had beaten up his wife for her "sin.'' The neighbours too do not seem to have spared her. .

Unable to bear the snubbing, Dhiran Devi left her home last evening. Lal Babu says he does not know about her whereabouts. The neighbours too were in the dark. It was not clear whether she had gone missing fearing police action for selling off her baby.

All that the Vaishali DM, H.R.Srinivasa, could do was to assure Lal Babu and the people of the community that no case would be filed against her and that the administration would get the child back.

What woke up the entire locality last week has a long history. Lal Babu was retrenched as a casual labourer of the Hajipur Municipality about seven years ago, almost about when his first girl- child was born. With his salary of Rs. 550 per month gone, life was dependent on the earning as a rickshaw- puller.

Sadly enough he is not a recipient of the REd Card nor a beneficiary under the Anapurna scheme meant for the likes of him. Doctors suspect him of having a TB relapse after 15 years. The Government dispensary declined to get his X-ray and blood test done free of cost as is required in the case of tuberculosis. They asked him to get the examinations done at his cost.

"I didn't get the examinations done. I've had no medicine. We are broke. I work for a couple of days when the body permits and for the next four days don't pull the rickshaw," rued the hapless Dalit lying on the floor.

Tragedy struck them two months ago when their two- year- old boy, Manish, died due to a damaged liver, suffering from malnutrition.

That is precisely what Dhiran Devi had sought to save her third child from. "My child died because I could not feed him. I know I've no money. So I sold my third child. At least he will live and we have some money,'' reasoned the desperate woman when hounded by her neighbours.

Dhiran Devi had cleared off all the debts that she owed the grocery man and the medicine shop. She silently left home last night as mysteriously as she had taken the decision to allow her child to fend for his life with a stranger.

A doctor couple, Om Prakash Chaurasia and Suchitra Chaudhary, have volunteered to adopt the family for one year. The DM came rushing with foodgrains. Well, who will cook the food for his daughter? "I shall,'' says Lal Babu knowing well he was not physically well to do the cooking.

But how will he cook. That question remains unanswered. Dhiran Devi had already sold off her utensils. Lal Babu Paswan would have to start from scratch once again. The DM promises him a job in the Red Cross after ensuring his recovery at Government cost.

Well, Babu Lal Paswan is not the only one suffering in the colony. At least three others were suffering from TB and most of them were without a job and somehow trying to make ends meet.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Other States

News Update

Stories in this Section

Hunger forces woman to sell son