New Delhi: Minister for Child Welfare and Women Development Maneka Gandhi has ordered probe into all child care homes run by Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity across the country.
The government has instructed all states to check whether adoption laws are followed.
The development comes after recent cases of alleged illegal adoptions carried out at a Missionaries of Charity shelter home in Jharkhand were reported in media.
Jharkhand Police said on Sunday that they have found the fourth child "given away for free" by a woman who worked as a nun for a shelter home run by Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity in Ranchi.
The police statement came a day after the woman "confessed" about having sold three children and giving away the fourth for free to different persons.
Superintendent of Police Aman Kumar said that the fourth child was traced in Ranchi. He declined to give details, saying the matter was "highly confidential".
Earlier, Senior Superintendent of Police Anis Gupta said sister Konsalia of the charity has confessed to the crime and said she had "sold" the three kids to three persons.
An employee of the charity-run shelter home 'Nirmal Hriday' was arrested on July 4 for allegedly selling a child born to a minor inmate of the home to a couple from Uttar Pradesh.
Sister Konsalia was arrested on July 5 in connection with the case. The baby was rescued on July 3.
The second child was rescued from Morabadi area of Ranchi on July 8 and the third of the four children was rescued from Simdega in Jharkhand on July 11.
There has been a number of reports of babies and children being trafficked through charity-run homes and hospitals in India, which campaigners say is driven by a long waiting list for adoption.
The Missionaries of Charity stopped organising adoptions in India in 2015 saying they disagreed with government rules that made it easier for single, divorced, and separated people to adopt children.
The WCD ministry said under the Juvenile Justice Act which came into effect more than two years ago it was mandatory for every shelter home dealing with children and their adoption to register and also link the organisation to the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA).
However, about 4,000 institutions are yet to be linked, the ministry said.
(with inputs from agencies)
Comments
0 comment