A court in India has cleared an elderly nun and two others after an eight-year ordeal that Church leaders said was a politically driven attempt to malign St Teresa of Kolkata’s religious order. Source: EWTN News.
The three people were acquitted in a much-publicised “child trafficking” case at Ranchi in the eastern state of Jharkhand in India
“We thank God for this [court] verdict. We are happy as our prayers have been heard,” Sister Concettina, MC secretary-general, said on Friday from the motherhouse in Kolkata.
“Finally, [the] eight long years’ ordeal has come to an end,” Archbishop Vincent Aind of Ranchi and head of the Church in Jharkhand said, reacting to the June 18 verdict of the Ranchi district court.
On July 4, 2018, 62-year-old Sr Concilia and two aides from the Missionaries of Charity home for unwed mothers at Jail Road in Ranchi were arrested on the allegation by Rupa Verma, the chairwoman of the Child Welfare Committee for the Ranchi district, that the home had sold a 14-day-old infant boy to a couple.
The sensational news of “child trafficking” against the Missionaries of Charity, the congregation founded by Mother Teresa, made worldwide headlines.
A flurry of criticism followed after the federal Ministry for Women and Child Welfare under the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government tried to malign the congregation by ordering an inspection of all Missionaries of Charity homes in India.
On July 11, 2018, The Republic, a major news channel known for publicising BJP perspectives, alleged that the number of babies missing from the Missionaries of Charity home was as many as 280 and branded the congregation as a “multimillion-dollar corporation”. However, three days later, the channel abandoned its hyperbolic earlier allegation and reported instead about “three babies sold.”
Even the Supreme Court of India denied bail to the accused nun, who was released after 14 months on bail from the Jharkhand High Court.
“We are happy that the judiciary has thrown out the concocted case,” Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, who was then secretary-general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India said.
FULL STORY
Church hails acquittal of Missionaries of Charity nun in India trafficking case (EWTN News)
