26 Girls Found Missing From Missionary-Run Shelter Home In Bhopal, ‘Forced’ To Practice Christianity

At least 26 girls were found missing from an unlicensed children's shelter home in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal.

Madhya Pradesh News: As many as 26 girls, many of them minors, have been found ‘missing’ from an unlicensed child shelter home in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal. The matter came to light during a surprise check by National Commission for Protection Of Child Rights (NCPCR) chairman Priyank Kanungo at the Aanchal Girls’ Hostel.

In a post on her official X handle, the Kanungo said he paid a surprise visit to the child shelter located in the Parwalia area on the outskirts of Bhopal, and after checking the register, found it contained entries of 68 girls, but 26 of them were missing.

The missing girls, aged between 6 to 18 years, are mostly Hindus and hailed from different states including Gujarat, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

“Yesterday, I jointly inspected the illegal children’s home run by a missionary in Tarasevnia, Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, along with the Chairman and members of the State Children’s Commission. The operating NGO here has been working as a Child Line partner like a government agency till recently, and while working as a government representative, it has rescued children from the streets, without informing the government,” the NCPCR chief said in her post on X.

कल मध्यप्रदेश की राजधानी भोपाल के तारासेवनिया में राज्य बाल आयोग अध्यक्ष व सदस्यों के साथ संयुक्त रूप से एक मिशनरी द्वारा संचालित अवैध बाल गृह का निरीक्षण किया।
यहाँ की संचालक NGO हाल तक सरकारी एजेन्सी की तरह चाइल्ड लाइन पार्ट्नर के रूप में कार्यरत रही है,एवं इसने सरकारी… pic.twitter.com/yVlWt04c90

— प्रियंक कानूनगो Priyank Kanoongo (@KanoongoPriyank) January 5, 2024

Kanungo said the NGO was running without a license and alleged that the girls are being kept “secretly” at the children’s home and forced to practice Christianity.

“Most of the more than 40 girls aged between 6 and 18 are Hindus,” he said.

Questioned about the missing girls, the child home’s director Anil Mathew, failed to give “satisfactory answers”, the NCPCR chief said, adding that an FIR has been filed by the police “after much difficulty”.

“Unfortunately, the officials of the Women and Child Development Department of Madhya Pradesh want to run the child helpline on contract from such NGOs,” Kanungo said.

He added that a separate notice has been issued to the Chief Secretary.

According to a report, the missing girls belonged to Sehore, Raisen, Chhindwara and Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh. Some girls also hailed from Gujarat, Jharkhand and Rajasthan.

A senior official said preliminary investigation revealed several irregularities in the shelter home which was also being run without a license.

The missing girls were lodged at the shelter home without orders from the state Child Welfare Committee. However, the child shelter claimed that the children were presented before the committee after being rescued and later lodged at the children’s home, India Today reported.

Citing the FIR, the report said that child shelter has not been shut down and meat and fish items were found in the kitchen. As per the FIR, the child shelter housed girls belonging to different religions but they were made to follow only religion (Christianity) at the facility.

As per the report, the shelter home does not have CCTV cameras installed and besides two women guards, there are two male security personnel at night. This is a clear violation of the rules which mandate only female guards to be present at a girls’ shelter home.

Meanwhile, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan took note of the incident and urged the government to take immediate action in the matter. “Considering the seriousness and sensitivity of the matter, I urge the government to take note and take immediate action,” Chouhan wrote on X.