Desperate measures: Man arrested for selling infant son

Talking to The Express Tribune while in police custody, Batala Colony resident Muhammad Sadique said he sold his infant son due to abject poverty.

“I’m a daily wage earner and have a family of five. For the last four days, I have not had money to feed my family, let alone pay rent for my living quarters, the owner of which threatened to evict me,” he said.

“Faced with such a situation, me and my brother-in-law Abdul Ghafoor decided to sell my newborn son to meet my family’s expenses and purchase a small house,” Sadique added.

“Poverty forced me to sell my son, but all in vain… I have been arrested on one hand and my family has been humiliated in our neighbourhood… we had told everyone that someone took away our son while he was asleep,” he narrated, with a tear in his eye.

Batala Colony Police Station House Officer (SHO) Chaudhry Abdul Majeed Gujjar said Sadique made a call to the police claiming unknown persons had abducted his son from his house on Saturday morning.

“I immediately rushed to the spot, but after getting preliminary information from Sadique, I suspected something fishy in his claims,” he said. “I took him to the police station for further questioning along with his brother-in-law Abdul Ghafoor.”

The SHO added that Sadique confessed that he sold his infant son to Dr Maqsood Ahmad for Rs125,000 when questioned. The accused also admitted he had taking Rs25,000 in advance and falsely claimed his son was kidnapped, the officer added.

Following this revelation, police raided Dr Maqsood’s house and the child from his nephew, Muhammad Aslam’s possession.

Batala Colony Police have registered a case against Sadique, his brother-in-law and Aslam. Dr Maqsood is still at large.

Meanwhile, the baby has been returned to his mother.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 20^th, 2014.