Five siblings, including a 24-day-old infant, who were rescued after being allegedly sold to an issue-less couple, are left uncared for in a slum as their parents were among six persons arrested in Odisha's Puri district for the act.
Six persons including the impoverised parents of the baby boy were arrested at Nimapada in Puri district yesterday on the charge of selling the infant for Rs 15,000, additional superintendent of police, Jagannath Pradhan said.
The six, including the baby's parents, a woman, her daughter, son-in-law and the infant's uncle were taken to the court of Judicial Magistrate (First Class) at Nimapada today which remanded them in judicial custody, he said.
The boy was rescued and Rs 14,000 seized from his father Trinath Nayak (60), a rickshaw puller staying in a slum near the local block office.
Nayak and his 32-year-old wife have five children - three daughters and two sons - with the youngest being the 24-day-old boy.
Apparently unable to bear the brunt of poverty, the couple had parted with the baby to a woman from nearby Dihabari village and in return they got Rs 15,000. The woman had purchased the baby for her issue-less daughter.
Meanwhile, with their parents in custody, the five siblings, aged between 24-days and 11 years, are left to the mercy of God in the slum as there was no one to look after them.
"The plight of the five children is heart-rending. No one has come forward to help them. There is no sight of so called organisations who claim to have been working for the children in distress," bemoaned a social activist seeking immediate intervention of the district administration to help them out.
