Bank accounts of the Missionaries of Charity in India have been frozen, according to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee.
Bank accounts of the Missionaries of Charity in India have been frozen, according to a tweet sent out by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee.
The organisation’s 22,000 patients and employees are left without food or medicine, a source told OWSA.
However, a press note issued by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) on the subject later in the evening says that Missionaries of Charity had themselves requested SBI to freeze its accounts.
According to the PIB release, the renewal application under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) for the renewal of FCRA registration of Missionaries of Charity (MoC) was refused on 25 Dec 2021 for not meeting the eligibility conditions under FCRA 2010 and Foreign Contribution Regulation Rules (FCRR) 2011.
Mamata Banerjee tweet
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee reacted to the news with the tweet:
“Shocked to hear that on Christmas, Union Ministry froze all bank accounts of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in India! Their 22,000 patients & employees have been left without food & medicines.” she said in her statement. “While the law is paramount, humanitarian efforts must not be compromised.”
Earlier, a case was lodged against the organisation at the Makarpura police station in Gujarat on Sunday December 12 under the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, 2003. The complainant, Mayank Trivedi, had alleged that the Missionaries of Charity were “hurting Hindu religious sentiments” and luring young girls to convert to Christianity.
Missionaries of Charity has rejected the charge.
Earlier, in July 2018, police in the state of Jharkhand had sought to freeze the bank accounts of the group in the state. The state police chief had then said that the freeze would facilitate an investigation into possible violations of foreign funding regulations.
