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Indian woman sells newborn for US$120 son to pay hospital bill
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by Sanjay Jha | February 24, 2009 at 09:34 pm
192 views | 18 Recommendations | 4 comments
In a shocking incident an impoverished young mother sold her newborn son in India's southern Andhra Pradesh state so she could pay her hospital bill.
Rajitha, 20, a single mother, sold the baby a day after he was born to a childless couple for US $120. She had delivered her baby by a caesarean section last week. Her hospital bills ran up to $40. The mother belongs to the Dalit community, who form the lowest rung of India's ancient caste system and were earlier treated as untouchables.
A young poverty-stricken mother sold her two-day old son after a government hospital demanded Rs 2,000 for the delivery in Andhra Pradesh’s Khammam, the Lok Sabha constituency of Union women and child development minister Renuka Chaudhary.
A police officer said two people, who brokered the ‘sale’, were arrested. Cops found the infant and handed over him to the mother in a tearful reunion on Tuesday.
Rajitha, 20, sold her son for Rs 6,500 to a childless couple so that she could pay the money demanded by the hospital staff. The woman had been abandoned by her husband after she found out that he was already married.
It was a caesarean delivery last week at the government hospital in Kothagundem in Khammam district. Hospital services minister Vanama Venkateswara Rao is a legislator from Kothagudem.
‘‘Rajitha was so poor she couldn’t afford to pay the money,’’ a relative said.
Rajitha told the police, who interrogated her on Tuesday, that she had no means to support herself and the baby. Rajitha had married one Rammurthy against her family’s wishes. But there were soon serious differences between the two when Rajitha came to know that Rammurthy was already married.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (4)
at 21:57 on February 24th, 2009
Thanks very much for your post. I think it could be same story. But it seems CNN story was not complete. The incident is horrible and as an Indian i feel ashamed.
at 23:44 on February 24th, 2009
Sad.
at 04:38 on February 25th, 2009
perfect example of, poverty, geder injustice, rich poor gap..in just one case.
at 09:41 on February 25th, 2009
This is not a critique, but rather an observation of the story:
It's a sad story, but a sadder reflection of the caste system that exists in the 21st Century India.