Assam, India: Driven by extreme poverty and lack of work caused by coronavirus pandemic and crisis, a migrant laborer was forced to sell his 15-day-old daughter.

The laborer, who is from Assam, sold his daughter for Rs. 45,000.

Dipak Brahma, the father of the kid, was arrested along with 2 other women for human trafficking.

It is reported that Brahma had recently returned from Gujarat, where he was working as a laborer, and because of the pandemic, he was jobless.

After finding it hard to support his family amidst this crisis, the man decided to sell his daughter.

Digambar Narzary, chairman of the Nedan Foundation, an NGO working against human trafficking, released a statement about the incident, where they said:

During these tough times, Brahma’s wife gave birth to the girl, their second daughter. Their elder daughter is a year old. Brahma tried to find a job during the pandemic but it was hard to come by. With almost all doors to earn a living closed, Brahma decided to sell the newborn. The man sold his daughter to two women for just Rs45,000, but kept his wife in the dark.

As the mother of the child got to know about the incident, she and some villagers went to the police to register a complaint.

Upon receiving the complaint, the police swung into action and rescued the baby from the 2 sisters.

The father of the child has also been arrested.