The commission's chairperson, Justice S.N. Jha, ordered the Araria district magistrate that the child should be recovered from the Nepalese couple and handed over to his mother.

Jha said there was a need to involve civil society to bring back the child because of international restrictions.

The district administration assured the commission that it would provide financial help and support to Shannu Khatun, who sold her son in July this year to the couple at Forbesganj railway station near the Indo-Nepal border in Araria, about 350 km from Patna.

Khatun is in her mid-30s.

The "sale" - amid stories of Bihar's economic recovery - created a stir in the state then.

After the incident was widely reported, the local administration promised a house to Khatun under the Indira Awas Yojna and benefits of other welfare schemes but Khatun has not got anything yet, a local social activist said.