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Madhya Pradesh: more (false) accusations against a Christian educational establishment
The chairperson of the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, Priyank Kanoongo, reported the disappearance of 26 girls from a Carmelite-run hostel, but a police enquiry found that they were at home with their families for the Christmas holidays.
Bhopal (AsiaNews) – Once again, the chairperson of the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Priyank Kanoongo, has lashed out at a Catholic institution in Madhya Pradesh, saying that 26 girls at a Carmelite hostel had gone missing. They were actually safe and sound at home, with their families, for the Christmas holidays.
Last Thursday, Kanoongo made a surprise visit to the Aanchal Girls' Hostel, a hostel for girls run by the Congregation of the Carmelites of the Blessed Virgin Mary Immaculate in Taraisewaniya, a village that falls under the jurisdiction of the Parwaliya Police Station, Bhopal District.
This type of action is something that Kanoongo has done in the past, always following the same pattern.
Checking the shelter’s registry, the NCPCR chairperson noticed that 26 girls out of 68 were missing that day and so accused a missionary on social media of running the institution without a licence and forcibly converting minors.
“Most of the girls aged between 6 and 18 are Hindus. After much difficulty, the police have registered an FIR[*],” Kanoongo wrote, referring to the complaint filed with the police that led to the arrest of one of the priests, Father Anil Mathew, who is now in judicial custody.
“Unfortunately, the officials of the Women and Child Development Department of Madhya Pradesh want to run the child helpline on contract from such NGOs," added Kanoongo, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s own Hindu ultranationalist party.
In fact, police later reported that the 26 girls were at home with their families, to whom they had returned of their free will during the Christmas holidays.
On Saturday, Fr Johnshibu Pallipatt issued a statement clarifying that Aanchal is not a children’s home, as reported by some media, but a hostel for girls, duly registered with local authorities as indicated on the government portal.
The 26 girls absent last week “had of their own free will and without any force or compulsion discontinued their stay in the hostel and went back to their homes with their parents,” reads the press release signed by Fr Pallipatt.
The statement added that police made “spot verifications” confirming that they were at home.
Since 2020, the hostel has hosted 68 underage girls, including some from other Indian states, like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Gujarat, and Rajasthan.
The police ended their enquiry, finding that no offence of child abuse or forced conversion was committed.
In the meantime, two project officers, responsible for managing the women and child programme, have been suspended.
Such incidents result in “a constant disruption in the education of children. Any flaw, any intricate government legality is cited as a reason to remove minors,” Archbishop Emeritus Leo Cornelio of Bhopal told AsiaNews.
“This is harassment, and it is being done only because it (the facility) is run by a Christian institution. NCPCR chairman Kanoongo routinely targets Christian institutions,” the prelate lamented.
This is not the first time that the NCPCR has investigated Christian educational facilities. Phoney complaints have been filed in the past to implicate men and women religious. Many have been arrested several times because of frequent accusations, which turn out to be unfounded when they reach the court.
[*] First Information Report.
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07/03/2022 17:12
