Home  

Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity under Modi government scanner! Top developments in baby-selling scandal

Baby-selling scandal: The Union government has instructed governments of all states to conduct immediate inspection of all childcare homes run by the Missionaries of Charity.By: FE Online | New Delhi | Updated: July 17, 2018 1:47 PM345SHARESSHARE missionaries of charityFILE PHOTO: Police stand outside a home which provides shelter for pregnant unmarried women run by the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic order founded by Mother Teresa, in Ranchi,Jharkhand on July 4, 2018. (REUTERS)Baby-selling scandal: The Union government has instructed governments of all states to conduct immediate inspection of all childcare homes run by the Missionaries of Charity (MoC), which is a Roman Catholic order founded by the late Mother Teresa. This comes days after authorities in Jharkhand had shut down a Missionaries of Charity home following the arrest of a nun and a worker for alleged baby-selling. The home provided shelter for pregnant and unmarried women.Here are the top developments in the scandal that has shocked the nation:– In a statement on Monday, Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said she had instructed states to ensure that all childcare institutions be registered and linked to the Central adoption authority within the next one month. “Taking cognizance of the recent cases of illegal adoptions carried out by Missionaries of Charity in Jharkhand, Maneka Gandhi has instructed the states to get childcare homes run by Missionaries of Charity all over the country inspected immediately,” the statement said.– On Tuesday, Gandhi said the Women and Child Development Ministry will amend the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act to make the district magistrates and collectors “competent officers” for approving adoptions, instead of courts. “We are bringing in an amendment to the JJ Act for making District Magistrate/Collector as the competent officer for approving adoptions, instead of courts,” Gandhi was tweeted as saying by the WCD ministry..– Reports of babies and children being sold by the charity-run homes and hospitals have appeared recently. It has been claimed by many campaigners that the illegal trafficking of babies and children is is driven by a long waiting list for adoption.

All Mother Teresa homes inspected amid baby-selling scandal

Police stand outside a home run by the Missionaries of Charity, in Ranchi, India.

Police stand outside a home run by the Missionaries of Charity, in Ranchi, India. Photograph: Reuters

India has ordered the immediate inspection of all childcare homes run by the Missionaries of Charity, the Catholic congregation established by Mother Teresa, after employees at one shelter were accused of selling babies for adoption.

The inspections were announced by the ministry for women and childhood development after a Missionaries of Charity home in Jharkhand state was shut this month following the arrest of a nun and a social worker employed there.

Sister Konsalia Balsa and social worker Anima Indwar were accused of having already sold three babies from the home, which provides shelter for pregnant, unmarried women.

After Alleged Illegal Adoptions Juvenile Justice Act Likely To Be Amended

After Alleged Illegal Adoptions Juvenile Justice Act Likely To Be AmendedNEW DELHI: The Women and Child Development Ministry is going to amend the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act to make the district magistrates and collectors "competent officers" for approving adoptions, instead of courts, Union minister Maneka Gandhi said today, days after cases of alleged illegal adoptions came to light in Jharkhand.

Ms Gandhi was speaking at a national conference of the ministers in-charge of the women and child development departments in all the states and Union territories here.

"We are bringing in an amendment to the Juvenile Justice Act for making District Magistrate/Collector as the competent officer for approving adoptions, instead of courts: Maneka Gandhi," the ministry said in a tweet.

Ms Gandhi, the Union Women and Child Development Minister, had yesterday directed the state governments to inspect all the child-care homes run by the Mother Teresa-founded Missionaries of Charity (MoC), after cases of alleged illegal adoptions carried out by one such homes in Ranchi came to light.

On July 5, the Jharkhand police had arrested a nun and an employee of the Ranchi-based organisation, run by the MoC, for allegedly "selling" a baby for Rs. 1.2 lakh.

Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity : Decades of the Baby Bazaar?

SHARE TWEET SHARE EMAIL

There was a fair amount of shock and disbelief in many circles when news, on the 7th of July 2018, broke that a nun at Nirmal Hriday (a hospice established by Mother Teresa) in the town of Ranchi had been arrested and remanded to judicial custody by a court for allegedly selling a baby at the Nirmal Hriday home. According to another story, “Arti Kujar, head of the Jharkhand State Child Protection Society, told Reuters that they suspect the home was charging upwards of $600 for each baby, depending on what the prospective parents could afford to pay.”

Soon enough came the suitably shocked protestations from the Mother Teresa founded Missionaries of Charity, along with the expected disclaimer – “We are shocked to know what has happened in our home… it is completely against our moral conviction,” Sunita Kumar, spokesperson for the Missionaries of Charity, stated. “We are carefully looking into this matter. We will take all necessary precautions that it never happens again if it has happened.”

Shortly thereafter came political cover to the aid of the Missionaries of Charity, when Bengal chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, on the 12th of July, tweeted her full support to the organization:

Mamata Banerjee

Biggest cases of child trafficking cases in India

In the wake of Ranchi unit of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity who are allegedly involved in child trafficking, here we have a list of major cases of child trafficking in India. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights in the last report mentioned, in 2015, 92,172 children were trafficked.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights mentioned, in 2015, 92,172 children were trafficked. Colourful murals made by Delhi Street Art on the wall of Ambedkar Memorial in Delhi |Photo Credit: Representative Image New Delhi: In 2015 alone 92,172 children were trafficked as per the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights last report. Since 2009, there is 300 per cent spike in the number of child trafficking cases, which are reported. CRY a non-governmental organization followed a report published by the United States Department of State which revealed, “India is a source, destination and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking. The majority of India’s trafficking problem is internal, and those from the most disadvantaged social strata- lowest caste Dalits, members of tribal communities, religious minorities, women and girls from excluded groups – are most vulnerable. Here’s is a list of the biggest child trafficking case in India. 2011- Pune The Central Bureau of investigation in 2011, filed a charge sheet against the managing chairman of the well-known Pune based orphanage, Preet Mandir and five others in connection with Child trafficking. As per the charge sheet from 2002 - 2010, the managing trustee got involved in a criminal conspiracy with unidentified people and they used to kidnap children from rural areas of Maharashtra with a motive to send them inter-country adoption processes. By this way, they exhorted huge sum of money for almost eight years. The major culprit, in this case, was identified as Joginder Singh Bhasin. 2016- Kolkata Another racket was busted in 2016, an adoption agency in Kolkata was found guilty of stealing babies from rape victims, marginalized families, and unwed mothers. They also had connections, where the mothers were told that they gave birth to stillborn babies, when they had delivered healthy babies. Eventually, the crime was entangled in political turf between the Bharatiya Janata Party and Mamata Banerjee. 2017 -Mumbai The first string of this racket was caught at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, a 52-year-old man was arrested by the Immigration officials for trafficking minor boys and girls to various countries. This racket was spread in countries like United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, and Germany as per reports by national English daily Hindustan Times. The man from 2015, had trafficked around 17 minor girls and boys to various countries.

ACT/AD to EO: Investigate. We count on the European Ombudswoman to stand up for child rights.

From: Arun Dohle [mailto:arundohle@gmail.com]

Sent: Freitag, 13. Juli 2018 14:09

To: 'MANDJUKOVA Tereza'

Subject: RE: complaint 1113/2018/TM

Dear Tereza,

EO to ACT/AD: Deadline 13 July 2018

From: MANDJUKOVA Tereza

Date: 10 July 2018 at 08:46

Subject: complaint 1113/2018/TM

To: "arundohle@gmail.com"

Dear Mr Dohle,

MARGARET TUITE’S LEAVING PARTY

Eventbrite

Menu

MARGARET TUITE’S LEAVING PARTY

by Eurochild

Free

Probe Into Baby Sale At Ranchi's Missionaries Of Charity To Widen: Police

RANCHI: The probe into the sale of babies at the Ranchi branch of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity, or MoC, could be widened to cover other shelters run by the Kolkata-headquartered charity and other groups, a senior police officer in Jharkhand told NDTV after a woman worker and a nun at the Ranchi shelter were arrested.

Sister Konsalia and Anima Indwar, an employee of Nirmal Hriday were arrested on Thursday for allegedly selling infants for adoption. The police have come across four instances at the shelter home where infants were sold for about Rs. 1.2 lakh each but say there could be more.

"If this was a lucrative trade, there is reason to believe other centres operated by MoC or other shelter homes also may be indulging in such activities," senior police officer RK Mallick told NDTV. He expected more cases to come to light in the near future.

This isn't the first time that the Ranchi branch of Missionaries of Charity has faced such an allegation, Dr OP Singh, who took over as the head of the child welfare committee in 2013. He recalls going to the MoC-run shelter in 2014 to probe a complaint of child trafficking.

"But the shelter's manager created such a ruckus... shut the doors on me to block the investigation," Dr Singh told NDTV. He complained to the social welfare and child development department but nobody was interested to go into the allegations. When he persisted, Dr Singh said he was edged out of the post and a probe reportedly conducted that found nothing wrong.

Now it will be easy to adopt a child, court makes amendments to the rules

Now it will be easy to adopt a child, court makes amendments to the rules

FacebooktwitterlinkedinG+pin

The government is going to make the changes in process of child adoption very soon. In the monsoon session of Parliament from the Government, the amendment bill will be presented in the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act. After the implementation of the bill, the adoption procedure of the child will be completed in only two months. There is a clearance to change the rules of Section 2 of the Juvenile Justice Act (the procedure for child adoption under sub-section 23).

After this, the future parents will get rid of the long process. They will be able to get a final stamp from the lower level of the district level on the whole process. The Ministry of Women and Child Development changed the adoption rules in 2017 and implemented the Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Act 2017. It is being revised and simplified again.

New rules will further strengthen the adoption process. Now the physical verification of the potential or future parents of the Child Protection Committee will come under the office of the District Magistrate. Due to the system being online, potential parents register online directly. After verification, they go to adoption agencies.