New face of Motherhood: Mother sold baby boy to get jeans and mobile phone set

Incident of child selling is not new to Odisha. There were incidents in the poverty stricken KBK districts of Odisha where starving poor parents being unable to feed themselves and the child had sold their offspring under compulsion to make the child survive somehow. But the recent case of a Mother selling her child for material needs like Jeans and mobile phone throws many questions for the social thinkers of India to think upon.

The news of a 20 years old mother of Odisha selling her baby boy at 5000 INR and purchasing jeans and mobile phone with the money has shocked India where mother is seen as an icon of sacrifice for her children.

The incident took place in Jajpur district of Odisha where the mother Rakhi Patra sold her 17 month old baby at 5000 rupees. While the mother claimed that she sold her child to meet the legal expenses to bail out her husband who is in jail as under-trial-prisoner on charges of theft, the police has found after investigation that the claim is not completely true because Rakhi bought a mobile phone set along with clothes for her and her husband with the money she got by selling her child.

The police also claim that Rakhi sold the child intentionally and never, really, wanted that the child be rescued. The reason behind such a conclusion was the non-cooperation from the side of Rakhi in rescuing the child. ‘She didn’t cooperate in the rescue operation but, rather, confused us a lot,’ said the Inspector In-Charge of Jajpur Road Police Station Aswini Kumar Sahu to media persons after rescuing the baby boy.

‘Even after the boy was rescued, his mother Rakhi didn't show interest in taking the child back. Now the child is kept at child care office,’ said Deepak Kumar, Superintendent of Police for Jajpur District while saying that the claim made by Rakhi in justification of the sell of her child was not completely true

Incident of child selling is not new to Odisha. There were incidents in the poverty stricken KBK districts where starving poor parents being unable to feed themselves and the child had sold their offspring under compulsion to make the child survive somehow. But here, this is not the case.

Now the question is how a mother, sacrificing all emotional bondage, could sell her own child to fulfil such material desires? Was it the result of growing consumerism in India? Or, it’s a victory of the love for materialistic luxury over emotional bondage and relationship between the mother and her child?

This article first appeared on October 5, 2012 at HotnHitNews.