A 13-month-old child was allegedly sold for Tk 2 lakh by the child’s father, grandfather and other relatives in Ishwarganj upazila of Mymensingh, with police later rescuing the child from Dohar upazila of Dhaka and arresting 5 people early Wednesday.
The child’s mother, Rozina Begum, filed a case at Ishwarganj police station on Wednesday morning under the Human Trafficking and Smuggling Prevention and Suppression Act. The case names 6 people and includes 3-4 unidentified individuals as accused.
The rescued child is currently in police custody.
The arrested people are the child’s grandfather Ujjal Mia, 50, grandmother Aysha Khatun, 45, and paternal aunt Sharifa Khatun, 35, all residents of Maijhati area in Ishwarganj upazila.
Also arrested were Abed Molla, 35, and his wife Shikha, 35, residents of Harichandi area in Dohar upazila of Dhaka.
According to the case statement, Rozina Begum, 21, married Naim Mia, 25, son of arrested Ujjal Mia, around 2 years ago. Their son Mojahid is now 13 months old.
Due to a family dispute, Rozina was allegedly beaten and sent to her father’s house around 5 months ago. Mojahid, however, remained at his grandparents’ home. Rozina later started working at a garment factory in Gazipur.
She later learned through local people that her husband and in-laws had allegedly sold the child to several unidentified people for Tk 2 lakh on the night of September 28.
On the night of September 29, Rozina went to her in-laws’ home and asked about her son. She was allegedly verbally abused and forced to leave the house.
Ishwarganj police said Rozina filed a general diary (GD) at the police station on Monday. During the subsequent investigation, police traced the child to Harichandi area of Char Mahmudpur union in Dohar upazila.
Police then conducted an operation there, rescued the child and arrested 5 people on suspicion of involvement in the incident.
Ishwarganj police station Officer-in-Charge Sajjad Roman said the couple from whom the child was rescued have no children. They said they had taken the child to raise him, but the process they followed was not proper.
The OC said: “The child is being kept safely with us. He will be handed over through the court. We are investigating whether anyone else was involved in the incident.”
The accused were sent to court at noon.