HT Correspondent
AGARTALA, May 5: A shocking incident has come to light from Katlamara Primary Health Center under Simna Assembly Constituency in West District, where a newborn baby was allegedly sold by her parents to a couple from the Khowai district of Tripura.
The incident has sparked widespread outrage among locals.
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Sources said that the incident occurred on April 30, when Lakshmi Rani Das, wife of Prasenjit Das, gave birth to a girl child at Katlamara PHC.
Allegations soon surfaced that the infant had been sold directly from the hospital premises.
However, in her defense, Lakshmi Rani Das denied “selling” the child, claiming instead that she had “given” her away due to poverty and desperation.
“I didn’t sell out my daughter but I have given her to another family. I don’t know their names. I believed them and that’s why I have given them. I can’t feed her. My husband is suffering from TB and we don’t have money to raise her,” she told reporters today.
Lakshmi, already a mother to two sons and a daughter, cited dire financial constraints and her husband’s health condition as the reasons behind her decision.
Following a swift investigation, authorities managed to trace the baby to the Khowai area.
She was successfully rescued and has since been shifted to a shelter home, officials confirmed.
Tripura Commission for Protection of Child Right Chairperson Jayanti Debbarma said, “We have recovered the baby and now handed over a government child care home. The baby is fine now”.
