Verma added that some activists had created a lot of problems for the CWC, when the children were taken from Shishu Bhavan. (Source: Express photos Milind Ghatwai/File)
The Khunti district administration has ordered twin inquiries into the deaths of two girl children, who had been put up in a government-aided shelter home run by an NGO Sahyog Village, allegedly due to malnutrition on August 19. One of the girls had been transferred from Shishu Bhavan, a child shelter home run by Missionaries of Charity (MoC) to Hinoo in Ranchi.
The Child Welfare Committee (CWC) Ranchi had taken in its custody the children from the Hinoo centre and had transferred them to different homes, after the arrest of MoC’s Nirmal Hriday centre in charge and another female employee in connection with the sale of babies early July.
The children, who died, have been identified as Chanchal Pardesi, four months, and Palona Kumari, seven months. They were admitted to the Sadar Hospital on August 17 and succumbed on August 19. Palona had been transferred from Shishu Bhavan in Hinoo to Sahyog Village after the alleged MoC baby sale racket was unearthed.
Khunti Deputy Development Commissioner C K Mandal said: “We have ordered two inquiries, one to be led by the district Civil Surgeon, and the other, a magisterial inquiry, led by the District Social Welfare Officer. We are expecting the report in a couple of days. Any comment beyond this would not be possible. Prima facie, there are allegations that the deaths were caused due to malnutrition.” He added that the child from Shishu Bhavan had been keeping ill before she was transferred.
Khunti CWC member Baidnath Kumar, said: “We had visited Sahyog Village (the NGO’s campus in Khunti) for the second time on August 6. At that point, the NGO had not informed us about any illness to the children. But there were signs of health deterioration among children and we had asked the district authorities to send a team and carry out a health check-up. This too was done. But, even then there was no information about the medical history of the children.”
Efforts to reach out to Sahyog Village Founding member Manjeet Pardesi did not yield any result after repeated efforts.
Kumar also said that at least eight children were transferred to Sahyog Village by the Ranchi CWC. These children were earlier with Shishu Bhavan, a child shelter home run by MoC in Hinoo area of Ranchi.
The CWC had taken all 22 children of Shishu Bhavan in their custody on July 6 – after the baby sale racket was unearthed. They were taken to different shelter homes and, finally, eight of them were transferred to Sahyog Village in Khunti.
Ranchi CWC Chairperson, Rupa Verma, however, rejected the charges. “First, we had got all the necessary medical processes carried out. The death of the child is unfortunate, but it was a fact that she was ill in Shishu Bhavan also. Second, if there was no medical history, then the CWC (Khunti) should not have accepted the children, as such. Also, it is more than a month after the children were transferred. Why the children couldn’t be given proper treatment after their transfer?”
Verma added that some activists had created a lot of problems for the CWC, when the children were taken from Shishu Bhavan. “The only reason we had to take action in Shishu Bhavan was that one of the arrested employees from Nirmal Hriday centre had taken the child from the custody of the complainant couple and kept it at Shishu Bhavan. So, we had apprehensions that other children there were also at risk of becoming part of the sale racket,” she said.
Female employee Anima and Nirmal Hriday (East Jail Road centre) in charge Sister Concelia were arrested by the police after it came to light that least four babies had been sold to parents from the Nirmal Hriday centre while avoiding the legal adoption processes.