Indian woman sold for $4,810; Yahoo News, can this be legal??

A low-caste woman, the president of a village council in southern India, was auctioned off to a high-caste landlord for $4,810 (2,206 pounds), a report said on Sunday.
Winning the bid for the illiterate farm worker, Balamani Veeman, meant that the landlord could take commissions on the village contracts that only she could approve, the Indian Express newspaper said, quoting villagers who attended the auction.
Veeman had protested, "but the (village) elders did not listen", the paper quoted her husband as saying.
While there is no formal relationship between them, the fact that the woman is of low caste and the winning bidder a member of the upper-caste Thevar community means that she will agree to his demands on the question of commissions.
Under the deal, the landlord would also become vice-president of the village council, the paper said.
Veeman was appointed president of the council or panchayat in Kodikulam, a village near Madurai in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, as the position was reserved for a low-caste person, the paper said.

What kind of animals are these people?

I'm sourthern Indian and I'm ashamed to say that the caste system stays alive and well here. (It's worse in the North with added problems.) Many of us throw all of these out and believe every human being is the same as the other. There is no 'low' and no 'high'. Consider this the same as racism. Most of them are not fortunate to break away from the caste system, because of the way they've been brought up - to think that this is 'right'. It's going to take a very long time for India to turn around. Having said that, we've got lots of beauty in our people too and most of my friends have married people from other communities and inter-racially too :-) Of course, the whole bunch is judged by one bad apple. Pity, this opinion will stick, untill the entire problem goes away.

indians are still slaves in the middle east! thats no new news

people are still being sold in different parts of the world all the time, its sad but common.

That sucks

It happens... To me, it's not much different than an arranged marriage.

I guess you are an American (as am I). Most Americans live in a little box where they assume the entire world should think the way they do. Certainly this would be illegal in the US, and most Western states. However, India has a culture that pre-dates ours, and they have different systems and traditions.

There are many things we as Americans do that are frowned upon by other cultures; but that doesn't mean they have any right to interfere with our way of life; and we don't have any right to interfere with them either.

It's just a different society. There are different people all over the world. You see one side of the picture, but don't see that this is part of who they are.

When people from India read about us, and how our president likes to randomly wage war. Our poor people live on the streets with nothing, not even health care. Our young mouth off to their parents and do what they want...don't you think they are wondering what kind of animals we are?

These people still practice slavery, but major Computer Companies outsource jobs to India, this is incredible and shows again that money is worth more than a human life.

well not leagal but i hope atourities act coz india need strict laws

In Hindu religion there is cast system .........
every thing is possible......