The person and two girls have been arrested on the cost of human trafficking. (Representational)
Kokrajhar:
Pushed by excessive poverty and lack of labor throughout the COVID-19 disaster, a migrant labourer in Assam bought his 15-day-old daughter for Rs 45,000 however police rescued the newborn, officers mentioned on Friday.
The person and two girls have been arrested on the cost of human trafficking.
Dipak Brahma, a resident of Dhantola Mandaria, a forest village in Kokrajhar district, had just lately returned from Gujarat, the place he labored as a labourer. He was jobless and discovering it exhausting to help his household, in response to an official of an NGO working towards human trafficking.
After his return, the household began residing on the home of his in-laws in Kochugaon Patakata village in the identical district. The household nonetheless lived a hand-to-mouth existence, neighbours mentioned.
Throughout these powerful occasions, Brahma’s spouse gave beginning to the woman, their second daughter. Their elder daughter is a yr previous, Nedan Basis chairman Digambar Narzary mentioned.
“Brahma tried to discover a job throughout the pandemic nevertheless it was exhausting to come back by. With virtually all doorways to earn a residing closed, Brahma determined to promote the new child,” he added.
The person bought his daughter to 2 girls for simply Rs 45,000 on July 2 however stored his spouse in darkish, Mr Narzary mentioned.
Brahma’s spouse and villagers filed a criticism at Kochugaon police station after they got here to find out about it later.
“On receiving the criticism, police swung into motion and rescued the newborn from the 2 sisters. We additionally arrested the person (Brahma),” police mentioned.
Throughout interrogation, the 2 girls claimed that they’d purchased the newborn for a childless couple associated to them.
“We’re actually grateful to the police for rescuing the newborn. However the difficulty is of very critical nature. Due to the lockdown, poor individuals wouldn’t have any work. The state of affairs is getting worse for these residing in forest villages,” Mr Narzary mentioned.
Lakhs of labourers returned to their houses in Assam from massive cities exterior the state after they grew to become jobless throughout the lockdown.
Although the state authorities had introduced that it’s going to create job alternatives for them by means of varied initiatives, together with underneath the Mahatma Gandhi Nationwide Rural Employment Assure Act (MGNREGA), the COVID-19 outbreak has badly hit most financial actions within the state.
Individuals are dealing with the double whammy of the pandemic and floods which have created havoc within the state.
A complete of 28.32 lakh individuals in 26 of the state’s 33 districts have been affected by the deluge.
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