NGO, police rescue baby about to be sold to family near Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: A Coimbatore-based NGO and the city police on Tuesday rescued an 11-day-old baby girl who was about to be sold to a family at Athupalayam near Somanur for Rs 50,000. The baby was handed over to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), and Coimbatore city police have arrested a woman who acted as a tout. Police sources said that Vijayashanthi, 32, wife of Prakash of West Street at Pallapalayam near Mangalam in Tirupur district, had given birth to a baby girl in Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) eleven days ago. She already had three daughters and felt that she could not take care of the fourth baby girl. So, she decided to sell her. Vijayashanthi approached Sindhu, 32, wife of Karthi of Anna Nagar at Pallapalayam near Mangalam in Tirupur district and asked her to sell the baby. Sindhu received the baby from her mother on Monday and took her to her friend K Janani’s residence at Athupalayam in Coimbatore district. Around 10am on Tuesday, the Childline (1098) received a phone call from a villager who said a baby was about to be sold to a family at Athupalayam. Volunteers of First Heart Foundation Network, an NGO, rushed to Athupalayam along with the Coimbatore city police. With the assistance of the police, the child was rescued and later produced before the CWC. The Race Course police registered an FIR and arrested Sindhu. The police issued a summons to the baby’s mother.