VADODARA: An institute run by the Missionaries of Charity in Makarpura was booked for allegedly attempting to forcibly convert the young girls staying there.
Makarpura police on Sunday filed a case against the Children Home for Girls under amended Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act 2003 section 295 (A) pertaining to deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings or any class.
The move came after the chairman of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) chairman visited the children’s home in August this year. “He found some anomalies at the institute and wrote a letter to the district collector asking to file a complaint against the institute. So, a committee was formed to investigate the case and it gave a report to the collector. So, I have filed a complaint with the police,” said Mayank Trivedi, social security officer.
Trivedi, however, said that he is not authorized to divulge any more details as the case is about minors. The police said that the institute is accused of trying to convert some young girls and they were asked to wear the cross.
Sister Rose Terrassa, working at the institute, rejected all the allegations of the religious conversions at children’s home and said that they only educate the kids. The children’s home looks after orphan kids and those who were rescued from child labour.
When asked what led the complainant to believe that the institute was indulging in religious conversion, Makarpura police inspector J I Patel said, “According to the complaint, 13 copies of the Bible were found in the library of the institute. The NCPCR chairman has said that his investigations led him to believe that the institute was resorting to conversion of young girls.”
The police added that there were allegations that the girls were asked to read the Bible and marriages of girls from other religions were done as per Christian rituals.
City police commissioner Shamsher Singh said, “There are prima facie three things in the social security officer’s complaint. A girl was converted to Christian religion without the permission of the district collector which is mandatory and some of the girls in the institute were given Bible and crosses to wear. We will now investigate the complaint.”