The wine bottles and meat stock recovered from St Francis children's home in Sagar, Image: Organiser
The chairperson of the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Priyank Kanoongo with members of the Madhya Pradesh State Child Commission, visited the missionary children’s home in the Sagar district. During the visit, hostel authorities misbehaved with a female commission member. A minor boy enrolled in the hostel was found missing and hence probe has been initiated on the complaint of the Child Welfare Commission, Sagar (CWC).
Apart from the arrest of miscreants misbehaving with the female members and the missing complaint of the minor boy, the commission found irregularities with the documentation. The lease of the land was expired so was the registration, the institution was accepting foreign funds in the name of student scholarships, pets were locked in cages, land allocated for school was used for residential and agricultural purposes and religious conversion was suspected.
It is pertinent to mention that a 16-year-old tribal girl was hired as a cook in exchange for a monthly wage. The name of a Hindu girl (major) was changed in the documents which show the conversion. Scores of mysterious activities were going on in the school.
The inspection drive
On May 8, the NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanoongo with MP SCPCR members Onkar Singh, Megha Pawar and Nivedita Sharma went on a surprise inspection drive at St Francis Children’s Home and School. The school and hostels are located in the Shyampura area of the city.
The commission went to the hostel and school primarily to inspect why the authorities were not allowing children to meet their families. Some of the parents had complaints that they have not met their children for years now.
The drive revealed that this was true and the authorities were intentionally keeping the children away from their parents. Some of the orphan kids had their houses around the campus only, still, the authorities never informed their families.
The missing child
A 15-year-old boy named Akshat Mishra (name changed, surname retained) went missing from the St Francis orphanage. The authorities at the campus were reluctant to share the details about him, hence a complaint was submitted at the Cantt police station of the Sagar district on May 8.
Notably, this minor boy also went missing earlier in 2019. As per the complaint letter to the Station House Officer, Cantt by the CWC members, the minor boy who was 11 years old went missing on November 18, 2019. A missing complaint (number–568/2019) was registered in this regard by the school authorities. Also, the police successfully recovered the boy on December 3, 2019, from Bina railway station and handed him over to Father Evin (29) and Alex Tirki (35) at the hostel.
Till the time this report was compiled the Cantt police did not register the FIR and the investigations in the matter were on.
Conversion activities
The religion of a 19-year-old Hindu girl was changed. Her fathers’ name is Ramesh Singh Thakur (name changed, surname retained) who is a Hindu but his daughter’s name suggests she has become a Christian. Her name is Mary Linet now, as per her mark sheets.
(Organiser has access to the documents of the girl, her mark sheet shows her D.O.B as 13/09/2003, not attacking the copy in the story to protect the identity of the girl)
The commission members have ordered the CWC members to investigate the matter and present a report for the same. In the remarks section of her school records, it is mentioned that she has been a part of ‘Sewadham Ashram’ since her childhood itself. As per the records, she was an orphan who was brought to the Ashram in September 2003 and since then has been living there only.
She has gone to take higher education in computer studies as of now.
Speaking with Organiser, Kanoongo said, during the inspection, they received texts both in Malayalam and Latin languages, he added the so-called Ashram falls in Madhya Pradesh and such texts make no sense there. A team will decipher the texts then only further actions can be taken, he added.
Megha Pawar, a member of MP-SCPCR said, she spoke with students who were totally brainwashed, some of them do not wish to leave the hostels at all. The girls and the boys are living in the same building, there is no segregation, which is alarming.
She added the students are offering catholic prayers, the students were having religious textbooks including Bible in their rooms, they checked the hostel rooms which were untidy, the students were not served chapaties, and the team also found meat stocked in huge quantities.
Tribal girl forced into Child Labour
A 16-year-old minor tribal girl was hired as a cook by the school authorities a few years back. She is currently living at the girl’s hostel at the Shyampura St Francis campus. The minor girl works as a cook and a sister from the campus, who once went to their village hired her.
She was wearing a cross-locket (symbol, that one is converted) around her neck but when asked about the same she said, when she entered the campus the authorities asked her to wear it.
About the payment she said, she was getting Rs 5000 per month for her services. Notably, she is dropped out of school and does not study there. The MP-SCPCR member Onkar Singh told Organiser that, he spoke with the minor’s father who is an Adivasi (vanvasi) and works as a labourer. He too did not accept that they have converted to Christianity, however, he said, his daughter was getting Rs 6000 at the school.
They belong to a lower-middle-class family and it was hard for them to make ends meet, with the help of Church authorities his daughter found a job.
It is pertinent to mention that, the commission is likely to take action against the school authorities for his a minor for work under dedicated sections of the Child Labour law.
Land lease expired
Speaking with Organiser Priyank Kanoongo said, the lease for the land over which the child home is built expired 10 years ago. However, the authorities kept bringing the stay orders from the Madhya Pradesh High Court in the wake of providing shelters to orphan kids. They are running two hostels without any registration. The registration for the girl’s hostel needed to be included, there were irregularities with the documents of the boy’s hostel.
About the children staying there he said, the St Francis organisation does not have any permits to keep children as far as the CWC is concerned and about the government aid he said, the teams are checking with the government officials for the same.
Kanoongo added, “They have kept children from different districts without any permission. The boys and the girls are living in the same building, this is alarming. There is no age-wise segregation of the students, minors of age as low as 6 to 9 years are living with majors even above 18 to 20 years,” he said.
Kanoongo shared a shocking detail with this correspondent about the recovery of wine bottles from the girl’s hostel. He said, “The commission found bottles of alcohol and wine from the hostels and campus.”
He added, “In the name of sponsoring the studies of these children, the authorities are accepting funds from foreign countries. They have donations in dollars,” said Kanoongo.
The campus is spread over acres, there are different residential spaces for the authorities and the children including mentally retarded children, Divyang children and others. There are two churches on the campus, a highway passes in between the campus area.
He added they have strangely kept dogs locked up in cages, they are running a dairy and are farming without permission. The grains from the field are kept in the student’s room, which raises an alarming question, of whether these students were forced to labour.
Most tribal students stay there
As per the MP-SCPCR members, the students staying at the campus are mostly tribals. Onkar Singh said many students have been converted to Christianity at the shelter home. They are trained well by the authorities, they had Bibles by their beds, cross lockets in their necks, and posters of Jesus in their rooms but were lying about their religious identity. When asked to write their names, many only wrote their first names.
He added, they found a dispensary in the school that too was not authorised. There was equipment often used during surgeries but when asked, the authorities remained mum. There were separate prayer halls at the campus, he added.
Organiser has been reporting missionary conversion activities be it in the state of Madhya Pradesh or others actively. What is noteworthy in this case is that a child shelter home run by missionary people is named ‘Sevadham Ashram’.
Following the inspection drive and arrests, the supporters of the Church called for protests. Two of the teachers were arrested by the police including Father E. P. Joshy and Father Naveen B.
Read reporting by Organiser on missionary conversion rackets active in Madhya Pradesh here, here, here and here.
On May 9, Organiser reported a case based on a viral video where two women confronted a catholic preacher for propagating their religion in public places.
In that story, we cited some of the tactics used by missionary preachers to propagate their faith recently. Out of many, mentioned here, one was naming institutions and organisations after Hindus and drawing a parallel between Hinduism and Christianity so that any gullible person can be manipulated easily.
For instance, reading verses from the Bible is known in Kerala as Vedapathan (recital from the Vedas). Tirthakshetra (Pilgrimage Site) has been displayed over some of the churches. Throughout southern India, many Churches have renamed themselves Ashrams. Ironically, priests and nuns have popularized themselves as Acharyas and Sadhvis. Most often, they decorate their premises with oil diyas instead of candles. Some of the organizations have employed Hindu terms like Ishavani and Shrivani rather than Nobelium because this develops a better connection with the people and makes them see the similarities between Christianity and Hinduism. Some fanatical Christian youth and young women choose to marry some Hindus with the objective of converting.
(The article was originally produced on May 9, 2023)
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