A day after 2 nuns were detained and one was arrested for selling babies, 22 children have been moved from Mother Teresa’s Ranchi Missionaries of Charity, Nirmal Hriday, to another shelter home in the same vicinity by the Child Welfare Committee.
“We had moved 13 girls and 22 children from Nirmal Hriday and Shishu Niketan respectively to a new home,” said Rupa Verma to PTI. Child Welfare Committee’s Ranchi Chairperson Rupa Verma had filed a complaint against Nirmal Hriday staff Anima Indwar after she sold a baby to a UP couple.
After the complaint by Rupa Verma, Kotwali police station officer-in-charge Shyamanand Mandal had said that an FIR had been lodged under section 370 of IPC, and three people were detained for interrogation. As confirmed by Mandal one women staff, named Anima Indwar amongst the detained, have already been arrested and one nun against whom the police had substantial evidence would be arrested soon, said the officer-in-charge. SN Mandal confirmed that Rs 65000 has been recovered from Anima.
“It was found during the course of the investigation that they were selling of unwed mothers at Rs 50,000 to 1.5 lakh. At least four children have been illegally sold by them,” said Mandal
The Missionaries of Charity, Kolkata has issued a statement regarding the Ranchi chapter and the charges of human trafficking. “We are shocked at such news, which totally goes against the values and ethics espoused by the Missionaries of Charity, the nun, and its founder. The Charity is looking into the allegations against the accused employees in Jharkhand with all seriousness”, said Sunita Kumar, the chapter’s spokesperson.
Mother Teresa herself has been a controversial figure while she lived. Aroop Chatterjee, the author of ‘Mother Teresa, the final verdict’ has disputed the benevolent image that is largely espoused by the world. He has said in his book that Mother Teresa never ‘saved lives’. Her charity was a ‘home for the dying’ where no doctors were available to cure the ill.
He also writes, “Mother Teresa’s order was to not provide proper beds, but just little hammocks. There is a communal toilet where people have to defecate in presence of each other and the inmates are not allowed visits from their friends and relatives“.