A mother from the village of Kadakati in Satkhira’s Ashashuni has allegedly sold her own child.
She claims she was forced to do this because her husband, Shamim Hossain, 28, from the same village, refused to take any responsibility for the child.
Reportedly, Ashamani Khatun, 25, Shamim’s fourth wife from Kadakati village in Ashashuni upazila, was unable to afford treatment and milk for her 14-day-old newborn baby girl, Khadija Khatun. She sold the baby for Tk20,000 to a tea seller.
The incident became public on Friday.
Ashamani said: “I did this so that my child could survive in good health.”
She added that while she was pregnant, Shamim married another woman named Hosne Ara six months ago while working on installing tube wells in Badratalay. Since then, Ashamani had been struggling to survive with her children.
Ashamani also said that she gave birth to her second child on January 16, 2024, at a clinic in Kullar Mor. She became desperate trying to pay for the clinic costs, medicines, and baby formula. Eventually, when the baby was just 14 days old, she signed a stamped document and sold her newborn for Tk 20,000 to a childless couple—tea seller Robiul and his wife Kajol—from Tentulia village in Ashashuni.
When Robiul was contacted via phone, his wife Kajol answered.
Kajol said: “We negotiated the price and bought the baby in front of several witnesses with certain conditions. On the baby's vaccination card, we listed our names as the parents. On the birth registration certificate, we named her Faria Jannatul. She will be known under our identity.”
Meanwhile, locals reported that Shamim Hossain, 28, from Kadakati village was living in a house in Valuka Chandpur, Sadar upazila, with his fifth wife, Hosne Ara Khatun. Shamim works as a deep tube well mechanic and occasionally works in brick kilns.
They further stated that upon hearing about her husband’s fifth marriage, Ashamani Khatun came to Valuka Chandpur early Friday morning to investigate. There she found her husband and Hosne Ara.
During a quarrel between Ashamani and Shamim, Hosne Ara fled the scene. That is when the matter of the child’s sale became public.
Locals said Shamim marries wherever he goes. In 2016, he socially married a woman from Lautara village in Tala upazila, but that marriage did not last.
Later, while installing tube wells in Badratalay, he eloped with and married a house owner’s wife. That marriage also failed.
Subsequently, he married his cousin Bilkis Khatun. While Bilkis stayed at Shamim’s house, he went to work in a brick kiln and married Ashamani. Eventually, Bilkis divorced him and moved elsewhere.
When contacted, Kadakati Union Chairman Dipankar Kumar Sarker said to the media, “I’ve heard about the incident from locals. We are currently looking into the matter in detail.”
