PATHETIC TALE: The 35-year-old mother, Rosy Reddy, in front of her jhugi in Bhubaneswar

BHUBANESWAR: One month-old Santoshi was in her mother's womb when the first bargain took place. As delivery time came closer, the second adoption deal was mooted by a city-based orphanage to make its attendance sheet healthy.

But the third-time deal came through last week. Santoshi was 23-day-old when a childless couple came with court papers, Rs 500 and a new saree for her mother to take her to a new home.

The deal

The deal, alleged to be a case of child sale, involving the baby girl has taken place at Ashok Nagar slum of the capital city, barely two km away from the Secretariat.

Santoshi's mother, 35-year-old Rosy Reddy, who could hardly memorise her baby's face, has no remorse about handing over her newly born baby.

"Why should I mourn over it? Had the baby stayed with me, she could have joined rag-picking business by the age of five," said Rosy, who along with her nine-year-old girl set out every morning to pick waste polythene packets in the city. The mother, however, confirmed about receiving Rs 500 and a new saree in lieu of the baby.

Rosy described; "Even during pregnancy I used to go to Jatni town, on the city's outskirt for rag-picking. A person saw me and requested me for the child. Then came an orphanage official, who said they could take care of her baby in future. But nobody showed their face for the second time." "Finally, when the couple from the next slum came to me, I gave the baby to them," she said with her neighbour Laxmi Ama nodding in agreement. Prior to the baby, Rosy had two girls and a boy. Her husband ditched her a few months ago and was reportedly staying in Kolkata these days.

But the deal did not surprise Kamala Das and Sabita Behera at the Kalimandir slum at Ashok Nagar. "It has been happening all over here," Kamala said.

When contacted, Basanti Swain and Surendra Swain, the couple that adopted the baby, "we did not have any child after 15 years of our marriage. There is no ill-intention getting Santoshi." "We initially did not want to enter into the mud. The scene was disturbing when we saw Rosy was preparing to go for rag-picking the next day of baby's birth. The other three children were served putrid rice," Basanti said. The couple, however, denied charges that they had purchased the baby. "We formally adopted her." Whatever the case, the fact that hapless mothers handing over their babies in lieu of something appears to have become reality in the capital city and is not contested by the authorities.

As per the Urban BPL List - 2006, the state's two most developed cities Bhubaneswar and Cuttack have the highest number of poor persons than other urban centres of the State.

The capital city had 68,649 families living below the poverty line.

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