Author: Bagish Jha, TNN
Publication: The Times of India
Date: July 31, 2017
URL:   http://m.timesofindia.com/city/gurgaon/nun-who-ran-orphanage-faces-arrest-court-rejects-bail-plea/amp_articleshow/59837655.cms

In a setback to social worker Sister Lily Baretto, who ran the orphanage Ujjwal Niketan for nearly two decades before it was shut down earlier this year, Gurgaon district court on Saturday rejected her application for anticipatory bail. Baretto, who is facing charges of human trafficking, illegal adoption of children and "cruel treatment" of inmates at the orphanage, is likely to be arrested.

Baretto is also accused of promoting Christianity, because some Hindu children were adopted from her orphanage by a Christian couple from Mangalore.

Ujjwal Niketan was shut down in February this year, after successive raids by the child welfare committee (CWC) last November and this February. Then in July, police registered a case against her after two teenage girls, who were shifted to another shelter after Ujjwal Niketan was shut down, testified against her in front of a magistrate.

According to police, the magistrate had received a complaint from the girls — aged 13 and 17 — that the orphanage management had been harassing them. A probe was launched based on allegations that Baretto had handed over two children to a Mangalore couple without consulting CWC. Baretto had told TOI in March she had only facilitated the adoption. She had dismissed the allegations as fabricated, and said she was being targeted.

A raid on the orphanage in the first week of July revealed that till December 2016, there were 20 girls at the home, and that it was not maintaining proper records.

Baretto was awarded by district administration for her work in child care and rehabilitation of orphaned kids in 2013.

Her problems began in end-2016, following allegations of promoting Christianity.

If convicted, she could face life imprisonment for trafficking.

To avoid arrest, Baretto had filed an application for anticipatory bail before additional sessions judge Rajani Yadav, but after a few hearings, the court rejected her application.

Public prosecutor Arvind Sharma strongly opposed her anticipatory bail application during the hearing.

"It's a case of human trafficking, in which recovery of some of the children is still pending. Her custodial interrogation is required to find the whereabouts of the missing children," said Sharma. He said a special investigation team (SIT) has been formed by police to probe and trace the missing children.

Ujjwal Niketan was started in 1994 with 14 kids in a New Colony house, and shifted to its current address in 2000.