Odisha teen sold wife to Rajasthan man month after wedding, bought a smartphone

A police team from Odisha which went to rescue the woman faced resistance from villagers in Rajasthan who didn’t allow the 26-year-old to leave, insisting that the 55-year-old had paid ₹1.8 lakh for her.

Updated on: Oct 23, 2021, 01:46:31 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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BHUBANESWAR: A 17-year-old has been held by the Odisha Police on charges of selling his wife a month after their wedding to a 55-year-old man in Rajasthan where he had gone to work in a brick kiln.

Balangir Police first received a complaint from the woman’s family who did not believe the 17-year-old’s story that his wife deserted him. Investigators checked his call records before he opened up. (Twitter/)

The woman, a 26-year-old, has been rescued by the police from the south-eastern Rajasthan district of Baran which borders Madhya Pradesh, with “great difficulty” as local villagers refused to let the police team take her away, emphasising that they had paid for her.

The two were married in July this year.

“In August, the couple went to Rajasthan via Raipur and Jhansi to work in a brick kiln. However a few days after his new job, the 17-year-old sold off his wife to a 55-year-old man from Baran district for ₹1.8 lakh,” said Bulu Munda, inspector in charge of Belpada police station in Balangir district.

The teenager splurged the money on dining and bought himself a smartphone. He later returned to his village and when his wife’s family asked him about her, he claimed that she deserted him.

The woman’s family didn’t buy his story and lodged a police complaint with the police. They checked his call records and spotted gaps in his story.

“We interrogated him and found out that he sold his wife. A team from Balangir went to Rajasthan to trace the woman. However, the locals there did not allow our team to take her back insisting that the woman has been bought for ₹1.8 lakh. We could get her back home with great difficulty,” said the police officer.

The 17-year-old was produced before a juvenile court on Friday and sent to a correctional home.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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