Ranchi: An employee of Nirmal Hriday, a branch of Missionaries of Charity situated at Jail Road, was arrested and two sisters detained after being alleged of selling new born children on Wednesday.
An FIR was lodged at the Anti Human Trafficking Unit of Kotwali police station of Ranchi on Tuesday on the direction of child welfare committee, following which the arrest and detentions were made.
Officer in charge of the police station, Shyamanand Mandal said, “The FIR was lodged for human trafficking under section 370 of IPC. The organization has been accused of selling a child of an unwed woman to a couple of Uttar Pradesh.”
He added, “We might also arrest one of the sisters as we have strong evidence against her.”
The matter came to light around a week ago when the members of CWC Ranchi went to the institution for a regular inspection. Pratima Tiwari of CWC said, “We went there and found that a new born baby was missing. When we asked the sisters there, we were told that the mother took him away. However, on being contacted the mother said that she did not have the baby with her.”
When the sister was question about it again she was baffled and immediately called the family to Ranchi and took the possession of the child. On Tuesday, the UP based family approached CWC Ranchi and informed them about the child being taken away from them by the organization.
Tiwari said, “The family informed that the organization took Rs. 1.20 lakh on the name of hospital fees from them.”
Missionaries of Charity provides shelter and assistance to unwed mothers who have no place to deliver the child. While earlier the institution had the rights to give orphaned children for adoption, but they stopped in in October 2015.
Anima Indwar, a worker at the organization who was arrested, confessed of children being sold by the organisation to various families and gave a written list of five such mothers whose children were given away to other families.
Social activist Baidnath Kumar said that he had given the information regarding this issue to the special branch of Jharkhand police in 2016 January. “One can see at least a woman or two standing at the gate of the institution every day, pleading to get their child back. This racket as been running here for over two years now and all the branches of the institution, which is at least one in each district, should be probed,” he said.
Meanwhile, no one from the Missionaries of Charity was available to comment on the issue.