Childcare homes run by the Missionaries of Charity in India will be inspected after employees at one shelter were accused of selling babies for adoption.
Sister Konsalia Balsa and social worker Anima Indwar were arrested after allegedly trying to sell a baby for UK£1,325 (about NZ$2,500).
They have also been accused of having already sold three babies from the home they work in. The home provides shelter for pregnant, unmarried women.
The adoptive parents of the fourth infant were told the proposed adoption was legitimate and that the money was for hospital expenses.
The Missionaries of Charity say the order condemns the actions of the individuals involved and says they are unrelated to the order.
“We are fully cooperating with the investigations and are open to any free, fair and just inquiry,” Sister Mary Prema Pierick, superior general of the order says.
She says “false news” “and “baseless innuendos” are being spread.
At the same time, she says “While we place our full trust in the judicial process that is underway, we wish to express regret and sorrow for what happened.”
Pierick says the order condemns “in unequivocal terms” the individual actions “which have nothing to do with the Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity.”
“We are completely shocked by what has happened in our home in Ranchi,” a statement from the order adds.
“It should have never happened. It is against our moral convictions. We are carefully looking into the matter.”
Police say Balsa has confessed to her role in the trafficking case.
However, the local bishop says the confession was extracted under pressure. He has accused the police of “treating the whole of Mother Teresa’s organisation as a criminal gang.”
Saint Mother Teresa of Kolkata founded The Missionaries of Charity in 1950.
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