Woman, 21, allegedly tries to sell her kidney after lover demands money to marry her

A woman in India's northern state of Bihar travelled to the national capital New Delhi in order to allegedly sell one of her kidneys so that she could marry her lover.

The 21-year-old reportedly told a team from the Delhi Commission for Women that her boyfriend had demanded money to marry her and she wanted to arrange the money by selling her kidney.

Police and the commission were alerted about the incident by doctors of a government hospital in Delhi where the women went with her request. The doctors initially suspected the woman to be involved in illegal kidney trading.

Under Indian laws, kidneys can only be donated through legal channels and never sold to patients who require transplant.

Once the woman appeared at the hospital, doctors called the emergency helpline number for the women's commission and reported the matter, news channel NDTV reported. The team, after questioning the woman, found that she was divorced and, following her separation from her ex-husband, began dating a neighbour who later moved to another city.

She told the team that she was living with her parents after her divorce, who were opposed to her relationship with the neighbour. She added that she then left her house and went to the man to marry him, who in exchange demanded 180,000 Indian rupees (£2,101, $2,767).

The woman reportedly refused to report her boyfriend and was sent back to her parents' house in Bihar. The Delhi commission has forwarded her case to the Bihar Women Commission, which has been asked to persuade the woman to take criminal action against her boyfriend.

IBTimes UK tried to reach the Delhi Commission for Women for comments on the case and is awaiting a response.