Nun cleared of selling babies in Sri Lanka

(December 16, 2011) A Sri Lankan court on Thursday cleared an Indian Catholic nun who was accused of selling babies for adoption. Judge Yvonne Fernando discharged Sister Mary Eliza without presenting charges. The sister belonging to the Missionaries of Charity congregation founded by later Mother Teresa of Kolkata, was arrested on Nov. 26 for allegedly selling babies born from unwed mothers at the sisters’ Prem Nivasa orphanage at Moratuwa, near Colombo. The centre also provides shelter for women who become pregnant outside marriage or after being raped, and gives the babies up through legal adoption if their mothers don't want them. Officials from the National Child Protection Authority and police raided Prem Nivasa and arrested Sister Eliza, the head of the Prem Nivasa community, after an anonymous tip-off, without proper investigation. After receiving the investigations reports from the Attorney General and the Criminal Investigation Department, Colombo Magistrate Courts declared on Thursday there were no illegal activities taking place at Prem Nivasa. In the first public declaration by a Sri Lankan Catholic Church, a week after the arrest, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the Archbishop of Colombo held a press conference on Dec. 3, calling the allegations against Sister Eliza groundless and vowed to boycott all state functions until the case was resolved.