Bihar orders probe into US girl Sherin’s adoption from Nalanda

The Bihar government has instituted an inquiry into the adoptionofthree-year-oldSherin Mathews, whose body was recovered from a drain near her house in Texas, US, on Monday.

The US couple, with a biological girl child, Shaina, had adopted the girls from the Mother Teresa Anath Sewa Ashram in Nalanda on June 23, 2016.

The inquiry was ordered on Monday after police in US claimed the body of a child it recovered was “most likely” of the three-year-old Indian girl who went missing two weeks ago.

Sherin’s body was found about half a mile from the house of her adoptive parents, Wesley and Sini Mathews. Wesley had reportedly punished her and sent her alone to stand outside their Richardson city residence in Texas past midnight on October 7 for not finishing her milk.

Nalanda district magistrate Thiyagarajan SM told HT, “We have constituted a three-member team, headed by an additional DM, to ascertain if all norms of adoption were followed in this case. Should any irregularity emerge, we will contemplate taking legal action as well against the NGO-cum-adoption firm. The team has been asked to submit its report within three days.”

A state-level team of the social welfare department had on September 7 ordered closure of the Mother Teresa Anath Sewa Ashram after it reportedly detected some shortcomings there. The letter, a copy of which is with HT, however, did not mention the nature of deficiencies.

The adoption centre, on the other hand, asserted that it would come clean in the inquiry as it had followed all stipulated norms pertaining to Sherin’s adoption.

Secretary Babita Kumari was critical of the government’s decision to close the centre. “The last inspection was undertaken in 2016. No team visited us thereafter and we did not get any showcause notice. We did not receive any communication, which the September closure notice refers to. We will challenge the order in court,” she said.

PATNA: