A man was arrested in Bihar's East Champaran district after he tried to sell his minor son to purchase liquor, police said Thursday.
The shocking incident took place at a rural market Wednesday when police arrested Prabhu Mahto after his wife lodged a complaint that her husband was trying to sell their eight-year-old son to buy liquor, district police official Lalit Vijay Tiwari said.
Tiwari said Mahto's wife Janki Devi, a resident of Kavalpur, traced her husband in the market where shopkeepers said he was bargaining to sell his son.
"We have found the boy and handed him over to her," Tiwari said.
Police said Mahto was a habitual drinker for years. "His wife told us that Mahto had sold his ancestral land, his house and her jewellery for liquor," the official said.
Mahto was presented in court and sent to jail for 14 days.