Bengal: Minor girl tries to sell blood to buy smartphone; handed over to child care body

That the young generation's obsession for gadgets is far from over has been proved once again and this time, it is a youngster from the eastern Indian state of West Bengal who travelled nearly 30 kilometres to sell blood to buy a smartphone.

When the 16-year-old girl was questioned about it, she gave incoherent response but eventually admitted that she had already placed an order for a smartphone worth Rs 9,000 and needed money to pay for it.

It has been reported that the minor, who belongs to South Dinajpur district of the state bordering Bangladesh, travelled the distance by a bus to go to a local government hospital to sell her blood so that she could arrange the funds for the gadget which was to be delivered soon. The hospital authorities tried to dissuade her saying it doesn't work that way and ensured that she was handed to her family after a counselling session.

The staff members of Balurghat District Hospital handed the girl, a student of Class XII, over to Childline India, an NGO that runs a helpline for children in distress.

The blood bank authorities at the hospital suspected her after she told them that she wanted to donate blood for money. They were shocked to hear her plan and explained to her that it did not work that way.

"A minor girl came to the hospital today. First, she told us that she wanted to do a blood test. When we asked her why she wanted a blood test, we found her to be incoherent and that is when we informed the Balurghat district Childline helpline. They came here and took her to their office. She kept giving various reasons like education, or that her parents had died, or that her parents are alive, but she has had issues with them. Then she told us that she had booked a mobile phone online, and she needed money," Kanak Das, Balurghat Hospital counsellor, told NDTV.

The girl later told the NGO that her father is a vegetable seller. She had an ordinary phone earlier and placed order for the smartphone from a friend's mobile phone on Sunday (16) after the previous one got damaged.

The girl's father later told NDTV, "I don't know what happened and when I got here, I got to know that she wanted to sell her blood and buy a mobile."

It was reported that the girl was fighting depression and was likely to undergo more counselling.

Childline said it will produce her before the Child Welfare Committee and then take a call on future course of action.

"Someone must have told her that if you do this, you will be able to buy the phone. She is also suffering from depression, and we will produce her before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and then we can decide where we can send her for her betterment. Let's see what the CWC says," Rita Mahato from Childline was quoted as saying by NDTV.