Kolkata police bust child trafficking racket, arrest five

MP  |  2 Aug 2023  |  Kolkata: The Kolkata police have busted a child trafficking racket and arrested five women, including, a mother of a 21-day -old baby girl, for selling the newborn for Rs 4 lakh. 

The police have also arrested the woman who had bought the child and rescued the baby girl. The cops suspect that a child trafficking racket is operating from within or adjacent areas of the city, which targets the patients coming to IVF centres for treatment. 

Also, they buy children from various places and keep them somewhere in Kolkata for selling. According to police, on Monday night, cops of Anandapur police station were informed that a 21-day-old child was missing from Nonadanga Rail Colony. 

The complainant, identified as Pratima Bhuniya, told the cops that her neighbour Rupali Mondal gave birth to a baby last month. However, for the past few days, the baby was not seen with her mother. When they asked Rupali, she allegedly said that the baby was missing but did not raise an alarm. 

Suspecting something wrong, Pratima informed the police. When the police started questioning Rupali about her child, she initially claimed the girl to be missing. Due to several ambiguities in her statement, the police arrested her on Tuesday morning. 

During interrogation, Rupali confessed that she sold her newborn to a woman identified as Rupa Das, who subsequently handed over the baby to another woman identified as Swapna Sardar, of Patuli area. 

On the basis of the statement, cops nabbed Rupa and Swapna and interrogated them. During interrogation, they told the cops that two other women, identified as Purnima Kundu and Lalti Dey, had received the baby from them. 

On the basis of their statement, police picked up Purnima and Lalti from their residences. While interrogating them, Lalti confessed that they had sold the baby to a woman identified as Kalyani Guha, who is issueless and was searching for a baby. On the basis of the statement, police arrested Kalyani from her rented house in Parnasree area and also rescued the baby girl. 

The girl child was later handed over to the home on the order of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC). 

Meanwhile, the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights (WBCPCR) has taken cognisance of the incident and sent a letter to the commissioner of police, Kolkata. 

Sudeshna Roy, chairperson of WBCPCR, said that awareness needs to be created on the issue and the commission has been working on it. Roy said that the person who is buying a child is equally at fault with the person selling them. 

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/kolkata-police-bust-child-trafficking-racket-arrest-five-527825