Bihar govt orders probe into adoption

PATNA: The Bihar government ordered an investigation on Monday into the adoption of three-year-old Sherin Mathews from an orphanage in the state, after she disappeared from her foster parents’ Texas home and her body was reportedly found.

Wesley and Sini Mathews of Richardson city adopted Sherin in June 2016 from Mother Teresa Anath Sewa Ashram, an orphanage and adoption centre run by a non-government organisation in Bihar’s Nalanda. The centre has been in trouble since September 7 when the social welfare department ordered its closure for several shortcomings. But the order doesn’t mention the nature of deficiencies.

Sherin’s reported death prompted Nalanda district magistrate Thiyagarajan SM to set up a team to “ascertain if all norms of adoption were followed in this case”. He warned of legal action against the NGO if any irregularity is found.

“The last inspection was done at our centre in 2016. No team visited us thereafter and we did not get any show-cause notice either … We will challenge the order in court,” said Babita Kumari, secretary of the orphanage.

The girl was seven months old when a children’s welfare organisation in Gaya gave her to the orphanage in February 2015 after she was “rescued” in the Buddhist pilgrimage town, according to Amit Kumar Paswan, chairman of the NGO.

“The American couple adopted her in the presence of the superintendent of police,” he said.