Salesians rescue girls from illegal orphanage

(June 03, 2010) A Salesian centre has rescued 18 girls kept illegally in an orphanage run by the Protestant Church of South India in Bangalore. The rescued children were from the north eastern states of Manipur and Assam, said Gnana Prakash, coordinator of Bosco Child Line. They were sent to a home run by Karnataka state’s Women and Child Development Department and will later be placed into the care of child welfare committees in their respective states, he added. The orphanage, the New Life Centre for Girls, housed some 60 girls but had no records on most of them, the Catholic layman said. Some 50 girls were hospitalized last week with vomiting and diarrhea, prompting a human rights group to complain to the Karnataka State Human Rights Committee about the “unhealthy living conditions” in the home. The Committee mounted a raid and found the orphanage had no license. The home had also not provided the state Child Welfare Committee with any details on the girls. The other 48 children are from Karnataka and many of them may be returned home since they still have parents, said Prakash. The orphanage will immediately seek to meet legal requirements required by state authorities, said Church of South India pastor Reverend Nirmala Vasanth Kumar, who runs the home. The Salesian centre has worked for street and working children since 1984.