Teacher arrested for Facebook post offering wife for sale

A college professor has been arrested along with his student for allegedly offering to sell his wife on Facebook to repay his debts, police said today.

Dilip Mali (30) and his students, Kamlesh Mehra, were arrested last night, Aerodrome police station in-charge Baljeet Singh told PTI.

Mali put up a post in Hindi on March 6 on Facebook offering to ‘sell’ his wife. He also uploaded her and their two-year-old daughter’s photo and provided his mobile number.

“I want to return the money I have borrowed from various persons. Therefore, I’m selling my wife for Rs 1 lakh. Anybody interested can contact me on my mobile number,” he wrote.

When his wife learnt about it, she filed a police complaint, following which a case was registered against Mali under IPC section 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman).

Police found during the probe that it was Mehra who had actually put up the post at Mali’s behest.

Mehra had allegedly loaned Rs 2,500 to Mali about a year ago. Last month Mehra took away Mali’s mobile phone, saying he would return it only when he repaid the debt.

When Mali couldn’t repay, he gave Mehra his Facebook password and asked him to put up an advertisement for the sale of his wife, so that the couple’s relatives and friends might come to know about his financial condition and help him.

According to the complaint filed by Mali’s wife they got married three years ago. Fearing various lenders, he fled to his ancestral village while she and daughter moved in with her parents.