- Wednesday, April 24, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
A MAN from the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand sold off his month-old girl to a local villager for Rs 30,000 ($404) to throw a party for his friends. He is now absconding with the police conducting raids to catch him.
According to a report by Gulf News, the man, identified as Bhudhram Chatomba, a tribal villager from the state’s West Singhbhum district, had promised the party to his friends but had no money to buy liquor.
Finding no way to gather money for the party, Chatomba called a couple from a neighbouring village a few days ago and handed them his 28-year-old infant for the sum. His wife accused him of snatching the baby from her arms and handing it to the outsiders. She said she could not react out of fear.
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“I was standing on the balcony of the house when my husband snatched the baby from my arms and handed her over to the visiting couple. I didn’t react out of fear of being assaulted,” Unwasi Chatomba, the baby girl’s mother, told Jayram Barjo, the local village council chief, who went to the village after getting the information.
She alleged that her husband handed over the girl to the couple saying he already had nine children and was unable to take care of her. Bhudhram has married twice and has six children from his first wife and three from the second.
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The woman also complained to the village council head that instead of spending on the family, her husband was wasting them on parties thrown for his friends, the report added.
The cops were investigating the matter and looking for Bhudhram who fled. “We have rushed a police team to the spot and are investigating the case but the accused is absconding,” a senior police official from Noamundi police station said on Sunday (22) on the condition of anonymity.
The incident came to light after Barjo visited the Chatombas’ house after learning about the incident. Bhudhram reportedly fled the scene after seeing the village council head arriving.
Jharkhand is known for large-scale child-trafficking and forced surrogacy rackets that target the tribal people. Civil society organisations report that the state accounts for at least 10,000 trafficked children as bonded labourers across India every year.
