Bhubaneswar: Commissionerate Police Sunday rescued a child allegedly sold by his father for Rs 50,000 following the intervention of Childline officials of Bhubaneswar. Police also arrested the person accused of buying the baby from the father in April last year. The accused was identified as Srinivas Jena of Chandapur in Nayagarh district.
According to sources, in 2018, the mother of the baby, Arati Naik, came in contact with one Tapan Palei, an employee of a private company and staying near her colony in Bangalore of Karnataka. Subsequently, they developed relationship and tied the nuptial knot at a temple in Bangalore.
The couple came back to Odisha and started living at Salia Sahi after they lost their jobs in 2020. Arati later gave birth to a baby boy at a private hospital in Nayapalli in March 2020. Meanwhile, Tapan started torturing Arati, who reportedly belongs to a lower caste.
Subsequently, Tapan, having an ulterior motive, took Arati and her child to Khurda on the pretext of administering polio drops to the 12-day-old infant at a hospital there.
On his return, Tapan informed Arati about selling the baby and threatened her of dire consequences if she informed the police.
The woman lodged a complaint with Nayapalli police against Tapan alleging domestic violence after returning to Bhubaneswar. She also accused Tapan of kidnapping her 12-day-old baby.
However, police did not take any action to recover the child and find out the accused buyer.
Later, Arati lodged a petition with the Childline in this connection. The Childline officials immediately urged the DCP, CWC and DCPO to look into the alleged police inaction.
Following Childline’s intervention, police swung into action and arrested the accused from Nayagarh Sunday. The baby was handed over to Childline after being produced before the CWC. The child is now at Ama Ghara, a local child care institution (CCI).
PNN