The Madhya Pradesh High Court has stayed the forcible shifting of orphans from St. Francis Orphanage in Sagar, a town in the central Indian state.
“Shifting of 44 orphan children from St. Francis orphanage was stopped after the Jabalpur bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court passed a stay order,” says a statement issued January 7 by Father Thomas Philip, the spokesperson of the Sagar Syro-Malabar diocese.
The priest says the Child Welfare Committee’s Sagar district unit came to the orphanage at 1 pm on January 6 along with local Sub Divisional Magistrate and police administration. The officials stated that the orphanage’s registration of had expired in 2020.
A video circulated in social media platforms show the children vehemently opposing the government officials saying that the orphanage was their home and that they did not want to go anywhere else.
“Meanwhile the Jabalpur bench of High Court passed a stay order asking the Child Welfare Committee to stop the shifting and reply to the court within two weeks ‘time,” the press statement said. The court also noted that the children were being shifted in extreme cold and during the “hard times of Covid-19 pandemic.”
The orphanage is managed by “Sevadhan,” a charitable institution under the diocese, that also manages hostels for Tribal boys and girl, a shelter home for physically and mentally challenged children and a Hindi medium school upto tenth grade.