Nagpur, Sep 24 : A relative allegedly sold a 16-year-old rape victim’s two-month old baby for Rs 90,000 in Maharashtra’s Nagpur city, a senior police official said today.
According to the official, the relative on the pretext of giving the baby in adoption, sold it off.
However, after a frantic search, the baby was traced by Kotwali police on Thursday , said the official.
The police acted swiftly soon after receiving a complaint filed by the Women and Child Development Department on Wednesday evening.
According to report, the rape survivor’s relative had signed an adoption agreement on a Rs 100 stamp paper with the family which paid Rs 90,000 for the baby.
An official of the Women and Child Development Department stated that he had alerted the District Child Protection Unit counsellor after receiving complaint about the sale of the baby.
After informing district women and child development officer, the counsellor was sent to record statement of the rape survivor whose baby was allegedly sold off, the official said.
According to the report, the counsellor recorded the statement of the rape victim, who disclosed that her baby was sold by her relative for Rs 90,000.
Subsequently, the Women and Child Development Department has asked the cops to rescue the mother-daughter duo and shift them to some government facility.
Sources informed that the baby was sold to a couple and the cash was handed over to the rape victim’s relative at Nari in Jaripatka in Nagpur , the report said.
As per detailed reports , the minor girl was found six-month pregnant in May this year, leading to a case being registered at Kotwali Police Station against a 16-year old neighbour. The minor had given birth to a girl baby in July. The rape victim stays with her relative as her father died and the mother deserted her.
Sources said that the rape victim wanted to keep the baby but the relative with whom she stays, insisted on giving away the baby for adoption.
Sources further said that the relative had earlier tried to get the minor married off in Gujarat. But she was sent back to Nagpur due to her tender age.
It is pertinent to mention here that any exchange of money for adoption done through dubious manner is an offence and labelled as human trafficking in Indian Penal Code (IPC), asserted the official.(UNI)