Missionaries of Charity nuns accused of conversion in India

UCA News reporter

Nuns from Missionaries of Charity distribute food to the needy on Peace Day to mark the death anniversary of founder Mother Teresa at the Mother House in Kolkata on Sept. 5. (Photo: Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP)

A Missionaries of Charity shelter home has been charged with trying to convert girl inmates by authorities in the western Indian state of Gujarat.

A police probe was initiated against the Nirmala Shishu Bhavan home in Vadodara city on Dec. 13 after a complaint was registered for violation of the state's anti-conversion law.

The organization, founded by Mother Teresa, has been booked under the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, 2003, for allegedly 'hurting Hindu religious sentiments' and 'luring towards Christianity young girls' in a shelter home it runs … reported The Indian Express.

Complainant Mayank Trivedi, a district social defense officer who visited the orphanage with the president of the district child welfare committee on Dec. 9, alleged the girl inmates were made to wear a cross around their necks and keep the Bible in a storeroom they used regularly.

A team of police officials accompanied by media personnel visited the orphanage on Dec. 13 afternoon and interrogated the nuns and others for at least one-and-a-half hours, Sister Emmaculate told UCA News on Dec. 14.

After the police left, another team of six officials including a female claiming to be members of the district child welfare committee arrived around 7pm and inspected the premises until 11pm.

Keeping a copy of the Holy Bible or any other religious text is not illegal and charging somebody for it is against the laid-down principles of the Indian constitution

They searched every nook and corner and also collected details of our daily activities besides other centers the congregation runs in Gujarat and neighboring states, the nun added.

Sister Emmaculate said they were not shown the complaint registered against them and denied any wrongdoing. The orphanage has 48 girls including 22 mentally and physically challenged children.

She said the harassment began after officials visited them on Aug. 29 for inspection. What wrong did we do? she asked.

It is a false and fabricated case, Father Cedric Prakash, a Jesuit priest and rights activist based in Gujarat, told UCA News.

Some time ago, when a team of officials visited the orphanage, they found a copy of the Bible and now a case is registered against them. Keeping a copy of the Holy Bible or any other religious text is not illegal and charging somebody for it is against the laid-down principles of the Indian constitution, he added.

Father Prakash alleged that this was a deliberate attempt to denigrate Christians and an institution founded by Saint Mother Teresa that commands great respect across the world.

He said they will explore all legal remedies to prove the charges against the orphanage were false.

Father Babu Joseph, a former spokesperson of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, said the Gujarat incident seemed part of a well-orchestrated campaign to target the Christian minority group in India under the guise of stopping so-called religious conversions.

It is the fundamental right of Christians to administer these institutions and practice their faith unhindered. No way do they impose their faith on others

He further sought to clarify that Christians do run a good number of orphanages and other human welfare organizations without any religious discrimination.

It is the fundamental right of Christians to administer these institutions and practice their faith unhindered. No way do they impose their faith on others, Father Joseph said.

He wondered if the bogey of conversion had been deliberately let loose to create a social rift and cause ill-feelings among peace-loving people of different faiths in the country.

Attacks against Christians have registered a marked increase in recent months with incidents reported from almost all states across India under the garb of curbing religious conversions.

The Missionaries of Charity have in the past faced allegations of indulging in religious conversions and illegal adoption, but none of the charges have been proved in a court of law.

Christians make up 2.3 percent of India's 1.3 billion people but are often accused by Hindu hardliners of converting people of other faiths on a mass scale.