Delhi HC denies bail to man accused of selling newborns for cash

The FIR was based on a neighbour’s complaint after noticing two women and a man frequently seen with newborns despite neither woman appearing pregnant

The Delhi high court has denied bail to a man accused of trafficking newborns for money, observing that reducing children to items of trade and transferring them for cash amounts to treating them as commodities and constitutes exploitation.

The man, in his bail plea, claimed false implication and argued that the babies were placed with respectable families for their welfare. (Representational image)

In her order delivered on Tuesday, justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said the case “portrayed a grim picture” of poor parents being induced to hand over their infants to a syndicate that allegedly sold the children for profit. She stressed that such acts have serious social repercussions and represent the exploitation of the most vulnerable sections of society—newborn babies and their distressed parents.

The accused was booked under the Indian Penal Code and the Juvenile Justice Act for offences including human trafficking and child procurement. The FIR was based on a neighbour’s complaint after noticing two women and a man frequently seen with newborns despite neither woman appearing pregnant.

Police alleged that the man, working with an ASHA worker and a nurse, targeted poor families, posed as prospective adoptive couples, obtained parents’ signatures on blank notary papers under the pretext of adoption, and then sold the babies to the highest bidders. The children were allegedly advertised and offered to buyers through WhatsApp videos, chats, and photographs.

Dismissing the petition, the court said, “The very act of reducing newborn children to articles of trade and transferring them for consideration is nothing short of treating them as commodities… The uncertainty about the buyers and their motives deepens the concern that the children were exposed to imminent risks of grave exploitation.”