A young father, left paralysed below the waist by a road accident in September last year, allegedly sold his 15-day-old son for Rs 42,000 to clear debts in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly.
The 25-year-old Harswaroop Maurya, an impoverished resident of Hafiz Ganj in Nawabganj block, was shifted to the district hospital on Monday morning after the district administration heard about his ordeal.
“I can’t earn a single paisa and have five mouths to feed. We had no alternative but to give away the child,” he said.
“My wife sold her jewellery to buy medicines. We took some money from relatives. All of it was spent on my treatment. We decided to give away the child when we had nothing left.”
His family has been trying in vain to arrange money for his treatment after being told that he should be taken to a bigger hospital in Lucknow or New Delhi.
Maurya’s 24-year-old wife, Sanju, tried to console herself after giving away her third child to a stranger.
“We named him Ankit. He was an angel. We weren’t destined to be with him… I would have lost my other two sons to hunger if I hadn’t let Ankit go,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}“We named him Ankit. He was an angel. We weren’t destined to be with him… I would have lost my other two sons to hunger if I hadn’t let Ankit go,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}The district administration said the child was given away by the family in accordance with adoption laws and no money was exchanged. The administration is making arrangements for financial aid to the family.
“I have initiated the process to enrol the family in public distribution schemes for subsidised food grains. The district chief medical officer has been requested to give Maurya a disability certificate,” said Kunwar Pankaj, the sub-divisional magistrate of Nawabganj block.
Also, a letter has been sent to the chief minister to grant financial support to the family.