Gumla: Hunger and poverty forced a mother to sell her newborn girl to a family for Rs. 5,000. Gudiya Devi lives in Ambedkar Nagar under the Gumla district of Uttar Pradesh reeling under poverty along with her husband Bajrang Nayak. Her husband sells junk and they spend their night under the open sky.
Gudiya and Bajrang Nayak have four children, 9-year-old Akash Kumar, 13-year-old Khushi Kumari who works at a brick kiln in Bihta, Bihar. The couple also has a three-year-old daughter Deepawali Kumari who lives with them.
As per the locals, the couple was also planning to sell Deepawali during last year Diwali, but people staying in the locality did not allow them to do so.
Gudiya doesn't even have a house, she lives under a tin shed used by her husband as a scrapyard. Along with her children, she spent chilly winter nights under the open sky that too when she don't have anything proper to feed her children.
Locals said that three months ago Gudiya was diagnosed with TB after which some locals admitted her to Gumla Sadar Hospital, But after being treated for a few days, she ran away from the hospital.
Gudiya's husband Bajrang Nayak also admitted that they had sold their child for Rs 5000.
As the local administration got to know about the pathetic condition of Gudiya Sub-Divisional Officer Ravi Anand and District Supply Officer Ghulam Samdani made food arrangements for the family. Apart from that, clothes and necessary items were also made available to the family and SDO also directed the concerned officer to bring back the sold infant to her mother Gudiya Devi.
"For now, I made the necessary arrangements and directed the officials and the local ward member to retain the child from wherever they sold the infant, later we will also look for a permanent arrangement that can be made for the family, " SDO said.
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