Father of Young 'Slumdog Millionare" Actress Tries to Sell Her

by Amanda Kloer · 2009-04-21 12:00:00 UTC
Topics:

Even adorable child acress Rubina Ali, made famous for playing the young Latika in the 2009 Oscar-sweeper Slumdog Millionare, isn't safe from the rampant child trafficking in India.  Her father recently offered to sell her for about $300,000.

This story has more layers of irony than a vegan bacon parfait.  First off, Ali's character in the film was actually trafficked as a young girl, eerie forshadowing for the fate that could have befallen the young actress.  Secondly, the men her father offered to sell her to were actually undercover reporters from a Brittish tabloid.  Yes- a Brittish tabloid actually did something helpful and ethical in their reporting!  Go ahead and pick up your jaws. 

The scheme to sell the little girl began with a legitimate inquiry from a wealthy Middle Eastern family who were interested in adopting her.  But Rubina's family saw this as an opportunity to make a profit.  It soon became a search for the highest bidder.  Womanist Musings points out that this is not an uncommon occurence in India and in many other parts of the world.  In fact, parents all over the world see, adopt, marry off, and otherwise part with children for a number of reasons- everything from abject poverty to plain old avarice. 

Who knows what Rubina's fate would have been had she ended up with the Middle Eastern family.  A loving home? Or slavery?

Amanda Kloer is a Change.org Editor and has been a full-time abolitionist in several capacities for seven years. Follow her on Twitter @endhumantraffic
PREVIOUS STORY:
Red Light Special: Stay At Raddison Encourages Corporate Abolition
NEXT STORY:
Today is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, how are you going to take action?

COMMENTS (29)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.