Dhaka (AsiaNews) – “I sold my 15-day-old daughter for 8,000 taka (US$ 125),” a tearful Anjuman Ara Begum told AsiaNews. A Muslim woman from Kaliganj Upazila, in the south-western district of Jhenaidah, she was driven to give up her child for money because of extreme poverty and threats from her husband who did not want another daughter. Today, torn by remorse, she wants her back.
Anjuman Ara Begum married Mohammed Mahabub nine years ago. He is a day labourer and the couple already have two daughters, seven-year-old Tania and five-year-old Marina. Her husband blamed and threatened her for not producing a boy, indispensable to support the family in the future.
Earlier this year, she got pregnant for the third time. During the pregnancy, her husband put pressure on her to have a boy. Eventually she left home to work as a domestic worker to support herself and her two daughters. On 20 November, she gave birth to a third daughter.
“After the delivery, I was devastated. If I went back to my husband with another girl, he would have killed me and her.”
The woman’s relatives told her about a couple in her home village, Nazrul and his wife, who after 14 years of marriage had not had any children and were willing “to buy the baby.”
“For this reason, I sold my daughter for 8,000 taka,” a tearful Anjuman said. “Now she is with Nazrul’s family.”
“I committed a very bad sin, selling my daughter. I want her back. I can’t live without her,” she said.
Every year on 30 September, Bangladesh celebrates ‘National Girl Child Day. Yet despite the best efforts by the government and NGOs through cultural and educational outreach programmes, selective abortion and female infanticide remain widespread practices.
.jpg)
