Sumi Sukanya dutta By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The national child rights body has questioned the role of a retired Jharkhand High Court judge and two senior IAS officers who allegedly “suppressed” an alarm against a possible baby-selling racket in shelter homes run by the Missionaries of Charity’s branch in Ranchi over four years ago.

A sister and another worker at Nirmal Hriday, a home in Ranchi that provides shelter to unwed mothers, were arrested a few weeks ago on the charge of selling a baby for Rs 1.2 lakh.

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During its visit to Nirmal Hriday in Ranchi, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights learnt that a whistleblower had been “unfairly” removed from his post in January 2014 when he tried to probe its activities following a tip-off.

Om Prakash Singh was appointed the chairman of the Child Welfare Committee in Ranchi in October 2013. Barely three months later, he was suspended by a selection committee under the state social welfare department, when he tried to get nosey.

The selection committee was chaired by a retired Jharkhand high court judge and had two senior bureaucrats in the state social welfare department, apart from two NGO workers, as it members.