Slumdog Millionaire: girl for sale

The father of a little girl who acted in «Slumdog Millionaire» has allegedly offered her for sale for 200,000 pounds sterling.

Posing as a rich Arab sheik looking to buy a child, a journalist from the News of the World has revealed a frightening scoop: that Rubina Ali Qureshi, the 9-year-old girl who played Latika in Danny Boyle's 8-Oscar «Slumdog Millionaire», was offered to him for sale by her father for 200,000 pounds sterling, which comes to about CHF 345,000.-.

In his article, the father of the child ­and her brother, who justified the price during negotiations with the Oscar win, defended himself by claiming the transaction would have benefited the whole family, including the child herself.

The journalist also claims that family of the girl was furious at being left out of «Slumdog Millionaire»'s global financial success, leaving them to remain in poverty despite the important role played by little Rubina.

In India, where the sale of a child is often the only way a family cansurvive, 11 million children are abandoned by their parents every year.