NEW DELHI – An Indian charity founded by Mother Teresa expressed outrageand regret Friday after a nun and an employee were arrested for allegedlyselling infants for adoption for potentially thousands of dollars.
“We are completely shocked by what has happened in our home in Ranchi (ineastern India). It should have never happened,” said the Missionaries ofCharity organisation, set up by the Catholic missionary nun in 1950.
“It is against our moral convictions. We are carefully looking into thematter. We will take all the necessary precautions that this kind ofincident never happens again,” a statement said.
Police arrested the two suspects at one of the charity’s homes in thecapital of Jharkhand state on Thursday following allegations that at leastfive infants were sold.
The scandal blew up earlier this week after local child welfare authoritiesinformed police about a newborn missing from the home, which is meant tocare for unwed pregnant women and mothers in distress.
The staff said initially that the baby was taken by her unwed mother butthen police found evidence that the two suspects sold the child to a couplefrom neighbouring Uttar Pradesh state for nearly $1,700.
The pair were initially charged with human trafficking — punishable by upto five years in prison — but police said they could face more charges asinvestigations widen.
The hospitals where the children were delivered will also be investigated,police said.
For many couples India’s legal adoptions process is cumbersome and someresort to illegal methods, including by paying bribes to charities orhospitals.
Born in Skopje, now the capital of Macedonia, Mother Teresa, canonised as asaint after her death in 1997, became a global symbol of compassion but shewas also a controversial and divisive figure.
She remained fervently opposed to birth control and abortion, describingthe latter as “direct murder by the mother herself” in her speech acceptingthe Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.
She was buried in Kolkata in eastern India where she lived most of her lifeand where the Missionaries of Charity is headquartered. It has dozens ofhomes and care centres in India and across the globe. – APP/AFP