Over 2.5 lakh children, young people and vulnerable adults were abused in state run and Catholic Church run faith-based care centres in New Zealand as reported by WION dated 16.12.2020. This shocking fact came to light in a public inquiry into the matter instituted in2018. The interim report released recently, by the Royal Commission of Inquiry revealed  the historic abuse of 2,56,000 children in state care out of the total 6,55,000 people in care between 1950 and 2019. That is 40% of the total inmates during that period were subjected to abuse.

Chris Hipkins, the Minister for Public Service said, “The hurt and anguish that has been caused in New Zealand’s history are inexcusable”. The report stated that most of the abused survivors were aged between 5 and 17, some were as young as 9 months old while some were 20-year olds. Most of them were abused for a period of 5-10 years. The abuse included physical assault and sexual abuse. It is appalling that some psychiatric institutions forced male patients to rape female patients, many were given electrical shocks on genitals and legs, they were subjected to improper strip searches and vaginal examinations and verbal abuse and racial slurs.  

The report said that in Christian religious or faith-based homes 21% to 42% of the children and young people were abused. The report called it a “serious and long-standing social problem that needs to be addressed” which continues even today. The report admitted the fact that indigenous Maori children suffered the most as 81% of the children abused were Maoris while Maori children constituted 69% of the total children in care. The report also mentioned horrifying fact that the Christian religious faith-based institutions “sought to  ‘cleanse’, through sexual and physical abuse, the cultural identity from the Maori people in care.

Thousands of Maoris protested last year protested in New Zealand demanding that the practice of taking children away from parents and placing them under state care should end. The process has been found to be racially skewed against the Maoris and is a colonial legacy. Similarly, Australia had in 2017 issued a national apology after a 5-year long inquiry on child sex abuse revealed thousands of cases of sexual assault committed at Christian religious faith-based and state-run homes.

While western countries do not miss an opportunity to meddle in our internal affairs and sermonize India to be more tolerant and inclusive towards people of all faiths and cultures, it is undeniable that white Christians have stamped out the faith, culture and traditions of the original habitats of Europe and America as is evident here from the status of Maoris in New Zealand today.

In India although state run homes and homes run by Hindu organisations are routinely under scanner for sexual abuses and other physical abuses committed in them, the minority, i.e., the Christian missionary and Islamic entities run organisations are strict no go areas for investigations into sexual and physical abuse of the women and children under their care. The cases of sexual abuse of children and paedophilia committed by the Church clergy in the various homes run by them are silenced. In fact, the mainstream media likes to blow up cases of sexual abuse in homes run by a few godmen like Baba Ram Rahim and Asaram Bapu to the extent that they become international news headlines and an impression that Hindu institutions are centres of rape and sexual assault is created.

 The monstrous sexual abuse committed by Bishop Franco Mulakkal on the female nuns working under him was covered by mainstream media only when they could no longer ignore the massive protests by the nuns in Kerala which went viral in the social media. Mulakkal demanded sexual favours from the nuns by saying he was the ‘Shepherd’ and the nuns being ‘Brides of Jesus’ are supposed to accede to his demands. Franco Mulakkal was praised and featured in a Catholic Church magazine recently despite the serious allegations against him. In fact, the Church punished the protesting nuns of Kerala by dismissing them from service because they had broken the Omerta Code of Silence.

Moreover, the mal-treatment of inmates and forced conversions of Hindus under the care of the Church is well-known from the times of Teresa, at her “Missionaries for Charity”, which is well documented by author Christopher Hitchens in his book, “The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice” and several other writings. Yet instead of instituting an inquiry on the homes run by her she was anointed a Saint by the Vatican and slavishly accepted by the Indian government by promptly awarding her the Bharat Ratna!

So, in India Christian missionary run institutions and so-called charitable institutions run by Islamists are free from any accountability from the law enforcing agencies and even the judiciary is very benevolent towards them.

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