{"id":1124631,"date":"2021-12-16T09:43:38","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T14:43:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1124631"},"modified":"2021-12-16T09:43:41","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T14:43:41","slug":"india-mother-teresa-charity-accused-of-forced-conversion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/india-mother-teresa-charity-accused-of-forced-conversion\/","title":{"rendered":"India: Mother Teresa Charity Accused of &#039;Forced Conversion&#039;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Findia-mother-teresa-charity-accused-of-forced-conversion%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1124631&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/mother-theresa.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">Police in the western Indian state of Gujurat are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opindia.com\/2021\/12\/gujarat-mother-teresa-missionaries-of-charity-booked-on-charges-of-conversion\/\">investigating<\/a> a women\u2019s shelter operated by a Mother Teresa-founded charity for allegedly \u201churting Hindu religious sentiments and luring young girls to convert to Christianity,\u201d the news site OpIndia reported Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Police in the Makarpura district of Vadodara, Gujarat, registered an \u201cFIR\u201d against Missionaries of Charity, which runs a women\u2019s shelter in Vadodara city, on December 14. An FIR, or \u201cfirst information report,\u201d is the initial step police must take when launching a criminal investigation in South Asia. Vadodara police said they registered a case against the Christian charity after receiving a complaint filed by Mayank Trivedi, a local District Social Defense officer for Makarpura.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>The Vadodara City Police filed an FIR against&nbsp;Missionaries of Charity on Tuesday based on a handful of alleged violations of the Indian Penal Code, including Section 295A, \u201cdeliberate and malicious acts to outrage feelings of any class by insulting its religious beliefs\u201d and&nbsp;Section 298, \u201cdeliberately uttering words to wound the religious sentiments of a person.\u201d The organization has also allegedly violated Section 3 of the&nbsp;Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, which prohibits \u201cforcible conversion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe punishment for forcible conversion under the act is up to three years with\/or a fine of up to Rs. 50,000 [$656],\u201d according to OpIndia. \u201cAs per Section 4 of the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, 2003, if a minor has been forcefully converted, the punishment would be up to four years and\/or a fine up to Rs. 1 lakh [$1,312].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trivedi writes in his complaint that he visited the Missionaries of Charity shelter home for girls in Makarpura on December 9 together with an unnamed chairman of Makarpura\u2019s Child Welfare Committee. The two social welfare colleagues allegedly witnessed the shelter\u2019s organizers engage in activities designed \u201cto hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus intentionally and with bitterness,\u201d according to the FIR registered by Vadodara police on December 14, which is based on Trivedi\u2019s complaint.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>The FIR <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/cities\/ahmedabad\/missionaries-of-charity-conversion-fir-7670821\/\">details<\/a> how charity staff allegedly \u201clured\u201d girls staying at the temporary shelter \u201cto adopt Christianity by making them wear the cross around their neck and also placing the Bible on the table of the storeroom used by the girls, in order to compel them to read the Bible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is an attempted crime to force religious conversion upon the girls,\u201d the FIR noted, according to the <em>Indian Express<\/em>, which reviewed the document.<\/p>\n<p>Trivedi also alleged the women\u2019s shelter \u201cserved non-vegetarian food to some of the girls,\u201d according to OpIndia. Critics say not offering Hindus vegetarian meal options could be considered an offensive act because most Hindus abstain from meat. Many Hindus specifically refuse to eat beef, as the cow is considered a sacred animal in the Hindu faith.<\/p>\n<p>Trivedi further accused the Missionaries of Charity of having recently \u201cforced a Hindu girl to marry a Christian man according to Christian rituals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Vadodara Police Commissioner&nbsp;Shamsher Singh told reporters on December 14 his colleagues had initiated an investigation into the alleged forced conversion of a woman who previously stayed at the Christian shelter.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWe have begun a probe today based on the complaint. There has been one case of a woman from [the Indian state of] Punjab being converted by the Missionaries of Charity after she lived in the home, which the committee has reported,\u201d Singh said, referring to the&nbsp;Makarpura Child Welfare Committee.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are exhaustive guidelines in place for shelter homes, which they must follow. We will examine the case on the basic FIR,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for Missionaries of Charity responded to the Vadodara City Police\u2019s decision to file an FIR against the organization on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are not involved in any religious conversion activity,\u201d the charity\u2019s representative said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have 24 girls in the home. These girls live with us, and they follow our practice as they see us doing the same when we pray and live. We have not converted anyone or forced anyone to marry into Christian faith,\u201d the statement further read.<\/p>\n<p>According to India\u2019s most recent census, taken in 2011, Vodadara has a population of about 1.8 million. More than 85 percent of Vodadara residents <a href=\"https:\/\/www.census2011.co.in\/census\/city\/338-vadodara.html\">identify<\/a> as Hindu, while 11 percent follow Islam. Other religions \u2014 such as Jainism, Sikhism, and Christianity \u2014 account for the beliefs of the remaining 4 percent of Vodadara\u2019s population.<\/p>\n<p>Missionaries of Charity <a href=\"http:\/\/jrdshahlife.blogspot.com\/2014\/07\/missionaries-of-charity-shelter-home.html\">operates<\/a> its Vodadara women\u2019s shelter with funds provided by the organization\u2019s main location in Kolkata, which is the capital of India\u2019s West Bengal state. Mother Teresa (1910-1997) was a Catholic nun who devoted the second half of her life to serving the poorest residents of Kolkata, for which she <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nobelprize.org\/prizes\/peace\/1979\/press-release\/\">won<\/a> the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. This service led Mother Teresa to <a href=\"https:\/\/theprint.in\/theprint-essential\/remembering-mother-teresa-the-kolkata-saint-on-her-108th-birth-anniversary\/105342\/\">establish<\/a>&nbsp;\u201cone of the world\u2019s largest [Christian] missionary groups \u2014 Missionaries of Charity \u2014 an order of 3,000 nuns and 400 brothers in 87 countries, tending to the poor in 167 cities across the globe,\u201d according to the Print, an Indian online newspaper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Police in the western Indian state of Gujurat are investigating a women\u2019s shelter operated by a Mother Teresa-founded charity for allegedly \u201churting Hindu religious sentiments and luring young girls to &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1124631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1124631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1124631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1124631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1124631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1124631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1124631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}