Anchetty turns Tamil Nadu’s baby selling hub

Krishnagiri: Girl babies are up for sale for a few thousand rupees in the remote Anchetti town in Krishnagiri district, which has turned into an illegal adoption hub of Tamil Nadu. Shocking still, the government nurse at the primary health centre at Anchetti is allegedly brokering the sale of girl babies, a detailed probe by Deccan Chronicle has revealed. The Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri belt of Tamil Nadu has been a notorious hub of female infanticide and foeticide, and more recently, a girl baby selling centre too.

DC met a 23-year-old woman, P. Salethammal, a mother of two girls, who delivered another girl baby on December 11. She sold the newborn for Rs 20,000 just four days later. As her husband, P. Perumal, a farm labourer, did not wish to keep the third girl baby, she decided to sell the baby. “I gave the baby to a childless couple who was introduced by Alphonsa (government nurse at the Anchetti primary health centre). They gave me Rs 20,000," Salethamma, a resident of Pandurangan Thotti village, near Anchetti, told DC in a recorded interview.

“I hoped to have a male baby but as I gave birth to a girl child, we sold her for Rs 20,000,” Salethammal admitted. Salethammal, who has two girls – 5-year-old Priya and three year-old Prabhavathy - delivered her third girl baby at the primary health centre in Anchetti, 64 km from Hosur, on the Denkannikottai-Hogenakkal road in Krishnagiri. She decided to give the baby to her uncle E. Aimannan, 35, of A. Pudur village, 2  km from Anchetti, who had two boys and wanted to have a girl baby.However, her husband did not want to give away the baby to a close relative and so the child was brought back home. Just then, the primary health nurse came up with the offer of selling the baby to a childless couple.

“Alphonsa, who was troubling us to sell the baby to a childless couple, approached us again," reveals Salethammal.On December 17, the newborn changed hands, and Alphonsa gave the cash to Salethammal on December 21.