The Nuns of Missionaries of Charity (MC) have been evicted from their Shishu Bhawan (Childrens home) in Kanpur Cantonment on January 3. The orphanage was founded in 1968 by Bharat Ratna and Nobel Laureate Mother Teresa. It has given 1500 children for adoption so far and at the time of eviction there were 11 children.
According to a press release issued by the Indian Catholic Forum, the Defence Estates Office (DEO) that claims to own all the land in the 62 cantonments in India, took the action claiming that Shishu Bhawan was built on lease land and the 90-year lease expired in 2019.
“Thereafter the sisters were trespassers for which they would have to pay a penalty of Rs. 1 crore per annum, amounting to Rs. 2 crores,” the release said.
The Missionaries of Charity Sisters were unable to get a sympathetic hearing from the DEO or an appointment with the Defence Minister. The Missionaries of Charity meekly surrendered before the army authorities and handed over peaceful possession of their home to the DEO on 3rd January.
The inmates, the orphaned children, most of whom were severely handicapped, were relocated to other Shishu Bhawans in neighbouring Allahabad, Varanasi, Bareilly and Meerut.
The action against Missionaries of Charity in Kanpur comes close on the heels of the rejection of their application for renewal of FCRA account due to some ‘adverse inputs’ received by the government against the Congregation.
Eviction stopped by High Court in Madhya Pradesh
In Madhya Pradesh, the inmates of the St. Francis Sevadham Orphanage received a timely respite after the High Court restrained government officials from forcibly evicting the inmates of the orphanage.
Father Sinto Varghese, director of St. Francis Sevadham Orphanage in Shyampur in Sagar Diocese said “It was a terrible situation, No one can ever imagine. A contingent of government officials accompanied by police equipped with riot and emergency vehicles came around 1pm on January 6 and began forcing our children to accompany them.”
The government officials wanted to remove the 44 inmates immediately even without waiting for them to finish their lunch. The move was influenced by false propaganda by Hindu activists that the orphans were being served beef and being forced to convert to Christianity.
A principal bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Jabalpur questioned the government's unusual move, saying “there is nothing on record as to under what circumstances and what provision the children are being shifted from the orphanage to some other place.”
The court also directed the district’s Child Welfare Committee to submit a report within two weeks explaining “why the children are being shifted in this cold weather and at this difficult time when there is a rising threat of Covid/Omicron [viruses].”
It is also directed officials to furnish a report “on the availability of space where they are trying to shift these children”.