Bhubaneswar: A 17-year-old sold his wife a month after they got married. Odisha Police arrested him on charges of selling his 26-year-old wife to a 55-year-old man in Rajasthan where he had gone to work in a brick kiln. And what did he do with the money?
He bought a smartphone.
The police rescued the woman from the south-eastern Rajasthan district of Baran bordering Madhya Pradesh, with “great difficulty” as local villagers refused to let the police team take her away, emphasising that they had paid for her. The two were married in July this year.
According to Bulu Munda, inspector in charge of Belpada police station in Balangir district, “In August, the couple went to Rajasthan via Raipur and Jhansi to work in a brick kiln. However a few days after his new job, the 17-year-old sold off his wife to a 55-year-old man from Baran district for Rs 1.8 lakh.”
Besides buying a smartphone, the teenager splurged the money on dining. He later returned to his village and lied to his wife’s family that she deserted him.
Not convinced, the woman’s family lodged a police complaint
Upon interrogation, the police found that he had sold his wife. A team from Balangir went to Rajasthan to trace the woman. However, the locals there did not allow the team to take her back insisting that the woman has been bought for Rs 1.8 lakh.
The 17-year-old was produced before a juvenile court on Friday and sent to a correctional home.
