(July 27, 2011) Indian authorities have withdrawn an expulsion order against a British
nun and allowed her to stay indefinitely, just hours before she was supposed to leave
the country as her visa had expired. Federal Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram
on Tuesday, instructed ministry officials to allow the 63-year-old Monfort missionary
nun , Sr. Jacqueline Jean McEwan , to stay in India for as long as she wants. The
minister said the expulsion order was “a mistake.” Sr. McEwan, a trained nurse, arrived
in India in 1982 as a medical volunteer. Since then, she has worked among leprosy
patients at the Sumanahalli center in Bangalore, Karnataka State. Sr. McEwan thanked
the government for allowing her to stay in India. “I can continue nursing my patients
and help them lead a dignified life,” said the nun popularly known as Mother Teresa
of Sumanahalli. Claretian Father George Kannanthanam, Sumanahalli’s director, also
expressed his happiness at the latest developments.