A drug-addicted couple from Akbarpur Khudal village in Punjab’s Mansa district was arrested for selling their six-month-old son to a scrap dealer in Budhlada town for Rs 1.8 lakh, driven by desperation to fund their addiction. The case, uncovered after the infant’s maternal aunt alerted police, has exposed the devastating grip of Punjab’s drug crisis, with the couple—a 19-year-old former state-level wrestler and her husband, both ensnared by substance abuse—having squandered the money on drugs, household items, and reclaiming a mortgaged motorcycle. Punjab Police have charged four individuals, including the parents, under Section 143 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for human trafficking, with three in custody and one suspect still at large.

The transaction, formalised through a “godnama” (adoption deed) over a month ago, was initially presented as a legal adoption to the scrap dealer, who has four daughters and claimed willingness to raise the boy. However, the couple’s belated remorse led to their aunt’s plea to reunite the infant with his biological parents, unravelling the illicit deal. The infant has been recovered and placed with the Mansa Child Welfare Committee, as authorities deemed the couple unfit for custody due to their addiction. District Child Protection Officer Harjinder Kaur confirmed the godnama’s existence but stressed that safety concerns preclude returning the child to the parents, with higher officials to decide his future. Punjab’s Commission for Protection of Child Rights, led by Chairman Kanwardeep Singh, has demanded a report by October 31, emphasising action under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.

The mother’s fall from a promising athletic career to addiction underscores the broader epidemic ravaging Punjab, where over 2.6 million people—10% of the state’s population—reported drug use in a 2023 state survey, fuelled by cheap narcotics smuggled across the Pakistan border. The couple, who met on Instagram and now live in abject poverty with a makeshift verandah kitchen, had been enrolled in an outpatient opioid-assisted treatment programme in Bareta, but villagers’ repeated pleas for reform went unheeded. Punjab Minister for Women and Child Development Dr Baljit Kaur condemned the parents as unfit guardians, vowing stringent action, while opposition leaders like Congress’s Bajwa decried the incident as a symptom of the state’s unchecked drug trade.

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Senior Superintendent of Police Bhagirath Singh Meena is probing potential links to wider trafficking networks, a concern amplified by recent busts across India, such as Delhi’s April 2025 case involving 35 infants sold for Rs 5-10 lakh each. The Budhlada case, while localised, highlights systemic failures: lax oversight of informal adoptions, inadequate rehabilitation for addicts, and socioeconomic despair driving extreme acts. As protests erupted outside the Budhlada police station demanding the infant’s return, the scrap dealer’s claim of legal adoption has sparked debate over godnama loopholes, often exploited in rural communities. This tragedy not only demands justice but also urgent reforms—ramped-up deaddiction drives, stricter adoption protocols, and cross-border smuggling crackdowns—to stem Punjab’s descent into a narco-driven abyss.

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