Baby selling scandal: Maneka Gandhi orders inspection into Missionaries of Charity shelter homes

On July 5, the Jharkhand Police had arrested a nun and an employee of a Ranchi-based organisation run by the Missionaries of Charity on charges of selling a baby allegedly for Rs 1.2 lakh.

Minister of women and child development Maneka Sanjay Gandhi has directed state governments to inspect all child care homes run by Missionaries of Charity (MC) across the country.

On July 5, the Jharkhand Police had arrested a nun and an employee of a Ranchi-based organisation run by the Missionaries of Charity on charges of selling a baby allegedly for Rs 1.2 lakh.

Gandhi also directed the states to ensure that all the child-care institutions (CCIs) were registered and linked to the country’s apex adoption body within a month.

According to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, registration of CCIs and their linking with the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) is mandatory, but some orphanages have challenged the validity of the clause, an official in the women and child development ministry said.

Taking cognisance of the cases of alleged illegal adoptions carried out by the MoC in Jharkhand, Gandhi has ordered all the states to get the child-care homes run by the organisation inspected immediately, the ministry said in a statement.

A shelter home run by the MoC in Ranchi has allegedly been involved in “selling” three children and “giving away” another one.

Approximately 2,300 CCIs have been linked to CARA since December last year, while about 4,000 more are still pending for linkage.

Gandhi has expressed displeasure over the fact that the children in the 2,300 institutions linked to CARA are yet to be brought under an adoption system.

According to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), 2,32,937 children are under the care of CCIs -- both registered and unregistered -- in the country.