Slumdog Millionaire Kid Star Put Up for Sale by Father

USMagazine, Monday, April 20, 2009, 6:57am (PDT)

The father of "Slumdog Millionaire" star Rubina Ali reportedly offered to sell his 9-year-old daughter for nearly $300,000, Britain's News of the World reports.

Trying to confirm that he is fielding several lucrative adoption offers, reporters from the paper posed as a wealthy Middle Eastern family interested in buying the girl.

"I have to consider what's best for me, my family and Rubina's future," said Rubina's dad, Rafiq Qureshi, who claims to be broke and left with "nothing" from the Oscar-winning flick.

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The paper claims that Rubina was originally being sold for $75,000, but her father raised the price after the success of "Slumdog."

"The child is special now," the girl's uncle said, according to the paper. "This is an Oscar child!"

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A rep for Save The Children, a charity with offices in Mumbai, said Rubina's case should force India to crack down on child and human trafficking.

"The Indian government must sign up to the International Labor Organization's convention for abolishing the worst forms of child labor and trafficking," said the group's director of campaigns Adrian Lovett.

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Her father has denied the paper's claims.

Police called Rubina and her father to a police station on Sunday night and recorded their statements.

"On Sunday, Rubina's mother Khurshid complained to us that her ex-husband was trying to sell her daughter, saying she saw some reports on television to that effect," Deputy Commissioner of Police Nisar Tamboli told Reuters.