Karnataka - Mangalore   

Infant restored to mother

MANGALORE: Unable to repay the loan borrowed from a self-help group, a woman is reported to have sold her newborn boy for Rs. 25,000 through an agent here recently. This incident was brought to the attention of the district Child Welfare Committee by the Anti-women and Child Trafficking Committee (CWC) here on Wednesday. Nayana (name changed), had sold her newborn baby to Savitha, an agent, on April 2, CWC member Geo D’Silva said.

Ms. Nayana, who had come for her delivery to Gurupura, where here mother was staying, came to know that her mother Pushpa owed Rs. 25,000 to Dhanalakshmi self-help group (SHG) of Ullal. The SHG had allegedly locked the house of Ms. Pushpa demanding the repayment of the loan.

Ms. Pushpa, according to her confession before the CWC, had to avail the Rs. 25,000 loan from the SHG to clear the one-year rent for a house she was residing in at Kondana, near Ullal.

The house owner, Udaya Rao, arranged to get Ms. Pushpa a loan of Rs. 25,000 from the SHG and took away the money, immediately on its sanction. Following this incident, Ms. Pushpa shifted her house from Kondana to Gurupura, Mr. D’Silva said. When Ms. Nayana came to her mother’s house at Gurupura for her delivery, the SHG members allegedly demanded repayment of the loan and resorted to lock the house of Ms. Pushpa there. With no other option left to relieve her mother from the debt, Ms. Nayana sold her newborn baby to a couple in Mannagudda through Ms. Savitha.

The child was returned to Ms. Nayana with a condition that she would arrange to bring Ms. Savitha to the court within eight days. When contacted, Ms. Nayana looked more preoccupied with the thought of how to repay the loan than being happy about here reunion with the child.

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