Mother who, together with her illicit partner, sold the two-year-old child and bought a phone

Can a mother's love be priced? Can the value of a child be measured in thousands of rupees?

In an era where even seeking answers to these questions brings shock, a tragic story emerges from Kilinochchi about a girl, born from her own womb, made of her own blood and flesh, being exchanged for a Sumart mobile phone and a small sum of money.

Dharmapuram Police have arrested a twenty-seven-year-old mother and her thirty-one-year-old illicit husband, residents of Dharmapuram Unit Seven, Kilinochchi, in connection with an inhumane incident where they sold their two-year-old daughter to a woman in the Katunayake area for approximately forty thousand rupees. The thirty-seven-year-old woman, a resident of Awiriyawatta, who purchased the child, has also been taken into police custody, and police officers were able to safely locate the innocent toddler.

This incident is not merely child trafficking, but a clear representation of the dark facets of social tragedies. During police questioning, the mother stated that both her two-year-old daughter, whom she sold, and her four-year-old elder sister suffer from Thalassemia. Although she claimed she gave her younger daughter for money to find funds for the elder daughter's medical treatment, the true story behind it was entirely different. The child was given to the childless woman in Katunayake under the guise of adoption.

When questioned by the police as to why they spent fifteen thousand rupees from the money obtained by selling their daughter, claiming it was for treating a sick child, to buy a new mobile phone for the illicit husband, both of them were completely speechless. However, it is an irony of fate that the same mobile phone became strong evidence for their crime. The police found numerous photographs recorded on that mobile phone, showing the agreement to sell the child and the toddler being handed over to the woman.

Had it not been for the attention and prompt complaint of the Grama Niladhari (village officer) of the Dharmapuram area, no one could say what the fate of this innocent life would have been. Although the Kilinochchi court ordered all three arrested suspects to be remanded until the 29th, the future of that little girl, deprived of a mother's love, still remains an unresolved dark enigma before society.