AUTHORITIES in India said last Thursday (5) they have sealed a home run by Mother Teresa’s religious order and charged a nun and one other person with baby trafficking.
A nun and an employee were arrested for allegedly selling infants for adoption for potentially thousands of dollars.
The home in eastern India’s Jharkhand state is run by Missionaries of Charity, the order set up by Mother Teresa in India, and provides shelter for pregnant unmarried women.
“They have said that at least five to six babies have been sold to childless couples,” police officer Aman Kumar told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“We are investigating to see how the operation was run and how many more children have been given away in the last few years.”
In a statement, the Missionaries of Charity, set up by Mother Teresa in 1950, said: “We are completely shocked by what has happened in our home in Ranchi. It should have never happened.
“It is against our moral convictions. We are carefully looking into the matter. We will take all the necessary precautions that this kind of incident never happens again.”
Arti Kujur, head of the Jharkhand State Child Protection Society, said the home was charging between `40,000 (about $600) and `100,000 for each baby, depending on what the childless couple could afford.
“We had been receiving many complaints regarding the functioning of this home and were keeping a close watch on them for nearly six months,” he said.
The scandal blew up last week after the local child welfare authorities informed police about a newborn missing from the home, which cares for unwed pregnant women and mothers in distress.
After the arrests, 13 girls living in the home were shifted to another shelter, and 22 children from a nearby shelter run by the same charity were moved to a new accommodation last Friday (6).
Kulsuma Aktergetty images