Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity Booked For Forcing Conversion On Girls

Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity has been accused of luring young girls into Christianity, are being manipulated for forced conversion, and infringing on "Hindu religious sentiments" by Gujarat police. 

Mayank Trivedi, the in-charge of the Vadodara district social security office, filed a complaint on Sunday alleging that several efforts were being made to convert Hindu girls residing there to Christianity.

The girls were forced to wear a cross and were given the Bible to recite, according to Mr. Trivedi. As per the FIR, management placed a Bible on a storeroom table for girls to read in an attempt to convert them to Christianity.

As per the official, the FIR refers to Sections 3 and 4 of the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, which deal with forcibly converting or trying to convert a person from one religion to another through provocation, allurement, or deceitful means, as well as Sections 295 (A) and 298 of the Indian Penal Code, which deal with harming religious values and believes.

Suggested Reading: Five Indian Paralympic Sportswomen Who Won Our Hearts In 2021

The case against the institute was filed after a committee investigated Trivedi's allegations, according to SB Kumavat, the assistant police commissioner of Vadodara. "Police will investigate the allegations and gather evidence to determine whether or not the allegations are true," he told The Hindu.

The organisation allegedly forced a Hindu girl to marry into a Christian family, a Punjabi girl to convert to Christianity, and served non-vegetarian food to Hindus in another case, according to the complaint. 

Sister Rose Terrassa, a staff member at the institute, has denied all allegations of religious conversions at the children's home, claiming that they only educate the children. Orphans and children rescued from child labor are cared for at the home.

The girls were married using Christian rituals, according to police, and they were all required to read the Bible.