The portal Quikr.com has been asked by the government to explain this ad on its site
Quikr.com, one of the country's major online classifieds websites, has been asked to explain an ad that allegedly advertised a boy for Rs 5.
The ad had a photo of the child with the caption "Rahul for sale" and mentioned the price Rs 5, according to a complaint sent in December to the government by the National Committee for the Protection of Child Rights.
The complaint is being handled by the government's Information Technology Ministry.
A top official in the cyber-security section of the ministry, Gulshan Rai, a top official, told NDTV, "We have received a complaint against a web portal for carrying an ad selling a child. We are investigating the matter."
The ad was placed allegedly by a man in Chennai.
Quikr has reportedly told the government in its reply that the ad was removed and it would be careful in future.
When contacted by NDTV, the portal gave this statement: "We use a combination of human effort, technology and phone verification to moderate our listings. We also spend time educating buyers about what to check before buying the product listed by the seller. Unfortunately, sometimes such ads do slip through despite the best technology and intentions, and we delete the ad as soon as it is brought to our notice."