Missionaries of Charity has come under fire recently as one of its staff members, identified as, sister Koncilia, a nun at the organisation was put behind the bars for allegedly selling a baby of an unwed mother in Ranchi. Sister Koncilia was the chief of the unwed mothers’ section.
“Two arrests have been made. A worker at the home was arrested on Wednesday. We have also got the details of three children who were sold by them to different couples. We are in the process of verifying their addresses,” Ranchi Senior Superintendent of Police, Anish Gupta was quoted as saying by TOI.
At Ranchi’s Jail Road, Nirmal Hriday provides shelter for unwed minor mothers as well as differently-abled people. 11 pregnant girls and 75 differently-abled people were living there in that home.
CWC member Tanushree Sarkar said, “We have moved the 11 girls to Karuna Shelter home and sealed that section of Nirmal Hriday. The other section does not come under our jurisdiction, but we will try to get it sealed.”
It is learnt that the committee will be transferring around 70 children who have been given shelter in Nirmal Shishu Bhavan which is another branch of the organisation situated at Hinoo, to other homes on Friday.
Sarkar said, “After the incident in one branch, we cannot trust the other branches of Missionaries of Charity and we will not be sending children to them for shelter from now on. As per the law, any minor child in need of care and protection should first be produced before the committee.”
CWC member Pratima Tiwari said, “Missionaries of Charity’s Jail Road chapter gives shelter to unwed mothers who have no place to give birth to their babies. In one of our inspection trips to the institution, a week ago, we found that one male newborn was missing.”
When the CWC members asked one of the nuns, she told them that the mother has taken him away. “We contacted the mother and she told us that she does not have the child. We followed this up with institution again. The sisters then called the UP-based family to whom they had sold the child for Rs 1.2 lakh,” Tiwari said.
It was on Tuesday, the family approached CWC and informed them that the organisation took the money from them as hospital fees. Sources went on to add that Anima lndwar who is a worker at the organisation has been arrested. The accused confessed that children were being sold to different families and has also given a written list of five such babies.
