25 January 2013 Last updated at 04:22 ET

India mother arrested for 'selling 11-year-old daughter for $12,000'

By Narayan Bareth Jaipur

Poverty often drives people to sell their children in India

A mother in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan has been arrested for allegedly selling her daughter for 650,000 rupees ($12,000; £7,611).

The mother said she sold the girl to raise money to repay a fine of 450,000 rupees ($8,383; £5,317) imposed on her by the village council, police said.

Police arrested a couple who allegedly bought the girl for trafficking.

Desperation and poverty often drive people in India to sell their children and many girls are also trafficked.

Police say the girl was sold a month ago, but the crime came to light when she tried to run away from the couple.

The alleged buyers chased her, but she managed to enter a restaurant where some people noticed her and called the police.

The girl told the police that the couple who had bought her had beaten her and were planning to sell her to someone in Mumbai.

"We arrested the mother of the girl and the two buyers, Tarachand Jat and Santra Devi," Rakesh Verma, head of the anti-trafficking unit in Tonk district, said.

Police say the village council had fined the mother for violating a local tradition.

She had allegedly married off her daughter to a man under a custom whereby the groom pays her for the girl. But, she later broke the agreement and took her daughter home.

"The girl has been handed over to a shelter and she is safe now," Mr Verma said.