New Delhi: In a tragic incident, a daily wage couple resorted to selling their 12-year-old girl in order to pay for the treatment of their 16-year-old daughter in Andhra Pradesh. They sold the minor to a 46-year-old man from the Nellore district who reportedly bargained and struck the ‘deal’ for Rs 10,000 instead of Rs 25,000 which they initially demanded.
According to the TOI report, the couple’s 16-year-old daughter is suffering from a respiratory illness and in order to pay for the medical expenses, they sold their younger daughter to the 46-year-old named Chinna Subbaiah who approached them and then married the minor on Wednesday. Subbaiah has previously offered to marry the daughter. His wife left him following marital discord.
After marrying the 12-year-old, he brought her to his family’s house in Dampur. At night, the neighbours heard the minor’s screams and cries after which “They (neighbours) went to the house of Subbaiah’s relatives to inquire what was happening. They then approached the local sarpanch, who contacted us,” the report quoted an integrated child development services official as saying.
“When neighbours went to his house, Subbaiah admitted the whole thing as if there was nothing wrong in what he had done,” the reported quoted an ICDS official.
The minor was sent to the child care centre in the district where she is being counselled. When the authorities tracked the parents they told them about their desperation. Meanwhile, the police have registered a case against Subbaiah and are interrogating him.
