CALCUTTA (CNS): The Missionaries of Charity have denied allegations that they abused residents at a home for children in India.
Their denial follows reports that British TV reporter Donal MacIntyre, posing as a volunteer, secretly filmed children being tied to cots at the nuns’ “Daya Dan”, or Gift of Mercy, home for children in Calcutta.
MacIntyre allegedly found children with their hands tied during mealtimes and tied at night to their cots with pieces of cloth. The children reportedly were aged six months to 12 years.
The home’s superior, Sr Paula Marie, said the allegations come from people who look at the situation “very much from the outside, not understanding the relationship” between the children and their caregivers.
In a statement, Britain’s Five News said it began investigating the home after hearing complaints from international aid workers.
The Missionaries of Charity, in a July 30 statement released from their motherhouse in Calcutta, said, “Physical restraints are used only when absolutely necessary for the safety of the child and for educational purposes for limited periods of time”.
