Jharkhand child trafficking case that put Missionaries of Charity under scrutiny ends in acquittal
Jharkhand: Eight years after their arrest in a child trafficking case that drew national attention, a Ranchi court acquitted two Adivasi women, including a nun associated with the Kolkata-based Missionaries of Charity (MoC).
Sister Concilia Baxla and Anima Indwar were arrested in 2018 after the state-run Child Welfare Committee (CWC) alleged that a newborn born to an unwed mother had been sold to a couple from Uttar Pradesh through a shelter home run by the Mother Teresa-founded congregation.
Their acquittal on June 18 ended a prolonged legal battle that, according to the defence, left deep psychological scars on both women.
Baxla is an Adivasi nun associated with the congregation, while Indwar, also an Adivasi, worked part-time as a sanitation worker at Ranchi’s Sadar Hospital and assisted with the organisation’s welfare activities.
Defence counsel Anil Kanth denied the allegations, describing the case as politically motivated.
“The sisters have been so harassed and tortured by the entire process that they have lost faith in people,” he said.
Kanth said both women suffered severe emotional setbacks during the proceedings. Baxla’s health deteriorated significantly and she developed memory-related problems, while Indwar spent years battling the allegations and the social stigma attached to them.
The case also disrupted several welfare activities run by the congregation, he said.
“Many programmes that provided shelter and support to vulnerable women and children were affected in the aftermath of the arrests, with some services eventually being scaled down or discontinued,” he said.
The 2018 allegations triggered a backlash and intensified scrutiny of MoC’s child-care and shelter services. For its part, Missionaries of Charity had said it was “shocked”.
Following the controversy, then Union Minister Maneka Gandhi directed state governments to ensure that all child-care institutions were registered and linked to the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) within a month.