3 more women in child trafficking ring nabbed
MUMBAI: Three more women were arrested by the crime branch on Monday in connection with the inter-state child trafficking racket involving the sale of three infants below two months of age to childless couples from Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam through egg donor Sneha Suryavanshi.
The women arrested on Monday were identified as Poonam Santosh Kharade, 29, from Asalpha village in Ghatkopar, Rina Rajkishore Gupta, 29, from Nalasopara, and Swati Sahdeo Bhaira, from Naigaon. During interrogation, Kharade confessed that she knew Suryavanshi through a common friend, and had sold a 15-day-old girl to a Hyderabad-based couple through her in February this year for ₹2 lakh, said a crime branch officer.
Gupta knew Suryavanshi as they had worked together, said police. Recently, Suryavanshi told her that she required a baby girl for a childless couple, after which Gupta arranged for a three-month-old baby girl. The girl was sold to a couple in Visakhapatnam in March for ₹1.40 lakh, the officer added.
During further interrogation, Bhaira revealed that she also managed to get a one-monthold baby girl from Ulhasnagar and sold her to a Hyderabadbased couple through Suryavanshi in March this year in ₹4 lakh, said the police officer.
“We have been trying to get details of the biological parents of the children and also trying to trace the parents who bought the children,” the police officer added.
On April 27, unit 2 of the crime branch busted an interstate syndicate of child traffickers who were allegedly involved in the sale of 14 children aged between one month and four years. The seven persons arrested that day included Vandana Pawar, Sheetal Ware, Sneha Suryavanshi, Naseema Khan, Lata Survade, Sharad Dewar, and Dr Sanjay Khandare, who runs a hospital in Thane. The female accused initially acted as egg donors before becoming agents.
The operations of the syndicate came to light on April 27, when officials of CB unit 2 received information that a woman had sold her fivemonth-old baby boy on December 13, 2022
Deputy commissioner of police, crime branch, Ragasud ha Rs aid ,“We have obtained details of nine children out of 14 – allegedly sold by the racket. During the investigation, we found that most of the children were sold to childless couples in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, for varied amounts ranging from ₹80,000 to 4 lakh.
DURING THE INTERROGATION, ALL 3 ARRESTED WOMEN CONFESSED TO LIFTING CHILDREN FROM THEIR LOCALITIES AND SELLING THEM VIA THE EGG DONOR
Sympathetic view taken by courts in earlier cases
Courts have taken a sympathetic view of couples accused of ‘purchasing’ children in the past, primarily in view of the ‘bond’ developed between them and the illegally adopted children.
In December 2020, the Bombay City Civil Court declared a Delhi-based businessman and his wife -- one among seven couples booked for illegally ‘purchasing’ children -- as legally adoptive parents of a four-year-old boy. The couple was reunited with the child seventeen months after they lost his custody and he spent over a year in a state-run orphanage.
In yet another case, the high court granted custody of a toddler to a Tardeo couple accused of ‘purchasing’ him from a children’s home in Nanded for ₹1.9 lakh. Despite facing legal challenges, the court deemed it in the child’s best interest, citing the couple’s care since he was 10 days old.
The Tardeo police arrested the couple in December 2015 after discovering the purchase, but in June 2017, the family court in Bandra appointed them as guardians under Guardian and Wards Act.