Tag: Baby for Sale
By Brajabandhu Mahanta | historyofodisha.in
A disturbing revelation has once again rocked Odisha’s conscience. In Bolangir district, a woman is alleged to have sold her three-day-old baby boy for monetary gain—a heart-wrenching incident that brings to light not just a personal tragedy but a deeper, systemic failure.
According to official sources, the incident took place shortly after the newborn was discharged from Bhima Bhoi Medical College and Hospital (BBMCH). While the mother has not publicly confirmed the transaction on record, a sting operation by OTV indicated that she admitted to handing over the baby for “upbringing.” The details remain murky, but the implications are all too clear—another child lost in the cracks of poverty, ignorance, and broken governance.
The District Child Welfare Committee and the Child Protection Unit have initiated an inquiry, following reports that the infant was possibly trafficked to Rourkela. If true, this incident is not isolated but a chilling addition to a growing pattern in Odisha.
Not an Isolated Incident
In just the past few months, Odisha has seen a spate of similarly grim stories. In November 2024, a couple in Rayagada sold their nine-day-old daughter for a meagre Rs 20,000, sealed on a stamp paper like a property deal. A few weeks later, a family in Bolangir, unable to support six children, “gifted” away their newborn. Even more shockingly, a man in Balasore allegedly exchanged his four-day-old son for a motorbike worth Rs 60,000.
What these cases underscore is a humanitarian crisis—an invisible epidemic that thrives in the dark alleys of extreme poverty, cultural fatalism, and a grossly inadequate child protection system.
The Root Causes Run Deep
Odisha, particularly in tribal-dominated districts, continues to grapple with generational poverty. Daily wage laborers, often earning no more than Rs 1,500–2,000 a month, are forced into impossible choices. With a neonatal mortality rate of 32 per 1,000 births and alarmingly high rates of child marriage in districts like Nabarangpur (1,347 cases between 2019–2025), the social fabric itself is fraying.
This crisis is not just about poverty; it is also about neglect—by the system, by institutions, and often, by policy. Despite the existence of frameworks like the Juvenile Justice Act, illegal adoptions and child sales remain rampant. Many parents are unaware of legal adoption procedures. Middlemen exploit this ignorance, and overburdened frontline workers struggle to keep track of missing infants.
Where Is the State’s Moral Responsibility?
The most pressing question is: How did this happen in a government hospital, under the watch of trained medical personnel and social workers? Where were the protocols for birth registration, mother-child follow-up, and social welfare checks? Why did no one raise a flag when a three-day-old baby disappeared?
Such questions must not be brushed aside in the name of ‘ongoing investigations.’ The state’s silence on these issues only deepens public distrust.
If the state can invest crores in industrial summits and digital infrastructure, it must also invest in strengthening the child protection ecosystem. This includes training health workers to identify red flags, increasing awareness about legal adoption, and creating emergency support systems for families in crisis.
A Crisis That Demands Collective Introspection
We must ask ourselves as a society—have we normalized the sale of infants as a symptom of poverty? Do we only act when the media catches a moment on camera? Child trafficking and illegal adoptions are not isolated crimes; they are symptoms of institutional decay and collective apathy.
The Bolangir incident must serve as a wake-up call, not just for the government but for every stakeholder in Odisha’s social development. The lives of our most vulnerable children should not be bartered away for survival, or worse, for silence.
It’s time we demand accountability, not just from the mother but from the system that gave her no other choice.