Agartala: Over the past few days, the alleged sale of a child, followed by the unfortunate death of his mother, has turned into a political slugfest between the ruling party and the opposition in Tripura.
The incident occurred in the Avangcherra ADC village under the Jolaibari RD Block of the South Tripura District, about 100 kilometres from Agartala. While the opposition parties tried to portray the incident as the state government’s failure to create enough employment opportunities at the rural level, the state government rejected the allegations of scarcity of work and employment in the villages, reportedly the reason behind the sale of an infant.
According to sources, the deceased, identified as Karmati Tripura (31), was admitted to Jolaibari Community Health Center on December 24 with intense labour pain. The on-duty doctors observed that she required better medical attention and referred her to the South Tripura district hospital in Santirbazar, around 20 kilometres from Jolaibari Hospital.
Due to her critical health condition, the expectant mother was shifted to GBP Hospital Agartala for advanced care. On December 25, the lady gave birth to a baby boy. Even though her postpartum care was yet to be over, the family was discharged and returned home after two days.
Sources claimed that because of poor financial condition, the lady and her husband, Laxmi Kumar Tripura, sold the child to a family in Ratanpur ADC village, around 25 kilometres from their house. The person who took the baby from the couple was identified as Kumrang Tripura.
A news report published in “Tripura Darpan”, one of the oldest Bengali newspapers published from Agartala, carried a news item stating that the baby was with the family of Kumarang Tripura before it was brought back to Avangcherra by the elder sister of the infant’s biological father.
The same news report added that Kumarang had been handed over the baby’s custody after giving Rs 3,000 cash, and when the baby was brought back, Kumarang was paid Rs 15,000. The shocking facts on the exchange of money for the child triggered a political row. Later, in the wee hours of January 04, the new mother passed away. A day before her death, the child was brought back to their house.
As the news spread, leaders of all the major political parties rushed to the residence of the grieving family. The opposition CPIM said the incident was due to a fallout of a lack of employment in rural areas. Even in the ongoing assembly session, a calling attention notice has been brought by CPIM MLA Jitendra Choudhury on this particular topic.
Despite repeated attempts, EastMojo could not get a response from the family. However, sources close to the family refuted the exchange of money.
Samanjoy Tripura, who knew the family, informed EastMojo that the reality was starkly opposite to what had been propagated.
“Karmati Tripura died on January 4. She was ill for the last several months. Due to some complications, the lower part of her body got paralysed. After the baby was born, Laxmi Ram Tripura handed over the child to his relatives living in the Ratanpur area. They don’t have blood relations, but both families know each other, and the couple who received the baby to take care of don’t have children of their own. This incident was presented in a twisted form,” Tripura told EastMojo.
Tripura also said that the lady was critically ill and was unable to feed the child after the delivery.
“The doctors have said that the baby’s weight is less than normal. The child is under observation at Santirbazar Hospital”, said Samanjoy.
Speaking to EastMojo, senior CPIM leader and ex-MLA Sudhan Das said, “We had received information that a child was sold because of the poor financial condition of a family. When we reached there to collect the information, we came to know about the heart-wrenching incident. We spoke to the locals who had gathered to perform the last rights. When we inquired about the baby, they informed us that the child was brought back to their house. We went inside their house and interacted with the women of the family who had been taking care of the child before leaving the area”.
The CPIM delegation led by Das comprised MLA from Belonia Dipankar Sen, MLA Ashok Mitra from Hrishyamukh and CPIM leader Debendra Tripura.
On being asked whether the baby was sold or not, the senior Left party leader said, “We don’t have any evidence to claim that the baby was sold, but it is a fact that the child spent three nights at Ratanpur and the family that took care of the baby for three days was not anyway linked to its biological parents. We don’t want to peddle unnecessary rumours but the fact is that the people living in the rural areas are facing multi-pronged challenges pertaining to their livelihood”.
On the other hand, Union Minister of State Social Justice and Empowerment Pratima Bhoumik claimed that the whole story of “child selling” was false and “fabricated”.
“The opposition CPIM in order to tarnish the image of the state government is trying to create a false narrative surrounding a heart-rending incident. They have a habit of politicising death. The leaders of the party claimed that the baby was sold while in reality, the baby is with the family and being taken care of by the other women members of the family”, she said.
Speaking on the “employment crisis” jibe, the Union Minister said, “Members of this family received three houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. We don’t expect anything better from a political party that only sees negative things”.
She was flanked by two BJP MLAs, Minister Shukla Charan Noatia and TCPCR Chairperson Jayanti Debbarma.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition Animesh Debbarma also sharply reacted to the matter and sought intervention from the Government of India.
“Such incidents indicate the real picture of the state’s rural economy. The Government of India must take cognizance of the matter and intervene”, Debbarma added.
A press statement issued by the Information and Cultural Affairs Department of Tripura said an inquiry had been ordered after Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha noticed the news item published in some newspapers.
On receiving the initial report of the probe, SDM Santirbazar Abhedananda Baidya said, “On December 25, Karmati Tripura gave birth to a baby boy at GBP Hospital Agartala. On December 29 she was brought back to her house at Avangcherra. On January 04, the lady passed away at 4 o’clock in the morning.”
Refuting the fact that the child was sold, the SDM said that the administration advised the grief-stricken family to allow the infant to be taken care of by the children’s home. The Chairman of the ADC village was also of the same opinion, but the husband of the deceased Laxmi Ram Tripura refused to do that.
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He also said the baby had been brought to the South Tripura district hospital in Santirbazar for medical observation.
On being contacted, SDPO Santirbazar Swagata Chakma said that the baby was staying with the cousin sister of the lady for a couple of days after his mother’s death.
“We know the baby was with a cousin of the father”, said the cop, adding that no police case had been filed in connection with the incident.
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