Ranchi Court Acquits Missionaries Of Charity Nun & Another Woman In 2018 Child Trafficking Case After 8-Year Legal Battle

Ranchi: Eight years after they were arrested in a child trafficking case, a Ranchi court has acquitted two Adivasi women, including a nun associated with the Kolkata-based Missionaries of Charity (MoC).

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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.  The court acquitted them on June 18, bringing an end to a prolonged legal battle.  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, leaving deep psychological scars on them. He said 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.

After the allegations, the scrutiny of MoC’s child-care and shelter services was intensified. On the other hand, Missionaries of Charity had said it was “shocked”.