Posted on 07/03/2015 12:36:07 AM PDT by Citizen Zed
New Delhi (AFP) - At a now-shuttered adoption agency on the fringes of India's capital, kidnapped toddlers and newborns were being sold for about $8,000 each, no questions asked.
After stumping up cash, prospective parents would inspect the bewildered children at the "Fastrack International" agency and take them home the same day, according to police who raided the premises last month.
"If you wanted a child, one would appear on your lap," joint commissioner of New Delhi police Dependra Pathak told AFP after the successful sting.
A ledger seized during the raid detailed how 23 children had been sold in just a few months and another 76 transactions were being negotiated, some of them involving babies kidnapped from hospitals in other states with the help of doctors and nurses.
Illegal adoption is a thriving business in India, where more than 100,000 children are reported missing every year, 15 every hour, according to government figures, and activists insist the figures are much higher.
Although many are given up by desperately poor parents in the hope of a better life, others are snatched from hospitals, railway stations and big cities and channelled to couples.
Experts say prospective parents are turning to the black market because of long delays, overcautious officials and complex rules of legally adopting in a country known for its frustrating levels of red tape.
"Why would you wait two years for a baby when you can just pay someone to get you one straight away?" said Lorraine Campos, assistant director of Palna, one of Delhi's oldest adoption agencies and orphanages.
"Criminals have realised there is money to be made by playing with people's emotions. And there's a nexus involving officials."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Yes, it is. I hope they really can make improvements. India does not have a very good track record in terms of honest and efficient administration of any kind, but there’s always a chance ...
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