It is a very complex situation in the Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh. A midwife in Karimnagar had been running a thriving business by selling newborn infants to childless couples in the guise of the job of assisting in the delivery of the babies.

Sameena, the midwife, sold the babies soon after their birth. The prices procured by her per infant sold ranged from Rs 5000 to Rs 1.5 lakh.

For her ‘business’, she procured babies born out of illicit relationships from their biological mothers who gave them up in fear of social stigma, as she confessed herself. She also acquired some of the infants by treachery - she simply told the parents that the baby was born dead.

A young mother who lodged a police complaint against the midwife after she told her that she had had a stillborn baby exposed the baby-selling racket. There was apparently some dispute over payments, which made the mother suspicious. According to Sameena, the couple had agreed to pay Rs 20,000 for her services, but paid only Rs 5000, saying they would pay the rest only after ensuring that the baby was alive and healthy.

According to T Laxminarsaiah, DSP, Jagtial, -

In the last one and a half years, she had sold six other babies. She lured vulnerable mothers. She took Rs 80,000, Re 1 lakh, Rs 1.5 lakh from childless couples and made money.

The police retraced six baby boys and one baby girl who were sold in a similar method within a 50-km radius. All of them have been taken to the police station along with the couples who had purchased them.

Most of the couples in this situation are experiencing an emotional trauma when asked to abandon their babies because they have been acquired by illegal means.

One of them said -

How can I now give up the baby? In fact I borrowed money to bring this baby boy home. He is now our life.

All of them have been allured by the prospect of acquiring a baby in exchange of money. Sameena had told them that if they paid her, she would give them a baby, as they said.

I can’t give her up. How can I continue to live after that?

- said another one of them.

The infants are currently under the provisional supervision of a voluntary organization in Karimnagar. According to the authorities, the parents of these infants have been instructed to appeal for official adoption of their children.

Incidents like this one should be taken more seriously than they are right now. Selling and buying of human infants can direct our society towards barbarism and it definitely suggests a lack mass consciousness.

Via : NDTV

Image Credit : NDTV