NEW DELHI: An Indian woman reportedly sold her four-month-old child to a Nepali family for 62 rupees (100 Nepali rupees), local media reported from Bihar in the center of the country close to the Nepal border. Police in the area said they are looking for the Nepali couple who purchased the child from the 35-year-old mother. According to reports, the child was sold at the Forbesganj Railway Station in Bihar's Araia district. The woman was reported to be in abject poverty and needed the money to survive. Police added they were told Shannu Khatoon had “sold" her four-month-old baby boy Shamim, one of twins, to a Nepali couple to “support her family of five, which included her physically challenged husband Mohammad Shaheed, eight-year-old daughter Shabina and the remaining twin. “We all had been literally starving for want of any means to run the family as my husband is completely disabled and hence I was forced to take to this extreme step. I pray my child is safe there," a dejected-looking Shannu told reporters. Selling of children in India is not uncommon. With little government assistance given to the poorest segments of Indian society, many women are resorting to the practice in order to survive and feed the children they have.
