Persecution Relief and its head Shibu Thomas who were recently exposed for indulging in anti-India activities find themselves in trouble again, this time over another organization named ‘Abundant Life Society’.
Abundant Life Society, a non-governmental organization (NGO) based out of Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh has been found to be running illegal children homes. Mr. Shibu Thomas, who is reportedly an Indian-origin US citizen is the president of this NGO.
According to its official website, ‘Abundant Life Society’, provides shelter, nutrition and education to abandoned children at its facilities in Bhopal.
The NGO is also in partnership with Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (MPTDC) for various education-related programmes.
However, Abundant Life Society, an FCRA registered NGO receives funds from Persecution Relief, a US-registered charitable organization (EIN: 47-4628497) which is also run by Shibu Thomas who remains its only President and CEO.
Persecution Relief, an organization claiming to help ‘persecuted’ Christians in India has been working clandestinely and carrying out anti-national activities.
This organization has been gathering details about crimes across the country where the victims are Christians, collating them, and preparing periodical reports which are then shared with various lobbying organizations in the USA and evangelist organizations across the world. They primarily collect data of skirmishes between Christian missionaries who go for proselytization in villages and the locals there, in an attempt to make a case for alleged ‘persecution’ of Christians in India.
Persecution Relief works with several other organizations like the Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations of North America (FIACONA), the members of which justify forced religious conversions. FIACONA, is involved in lobbying against India with U.S lawmakers, Church organizations and the USCIRF to press sanctions against India.
Persecution Relief, in its Annual Report for the year 2019 termed rules set by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to protect the rights of children as ‘a persecution against the Christians in India’.
In page 94 of the report, Persecution Relief came up with this recommendation to the state and central government:
We request the Ministry of Women & Child Development to instruct Child Welfare Committee (CWC), not to harass Christian Institutions and Orphanages maliciously across India. In 2019, we have recorded many instances of false cases booked under POCSO, of whom several are still in jail. Children were evacuated in the middle of the night against the wishes of their parents, with little compassion or understanding.
It is to be noted that there already exists provisions in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and its guideline for non-reporting the incidents of sexual harassment against Children and even for false reporting.
Legal Rights Protection Forum (LRPF) which has brought the matter to light states that through this, ‘Abundant Life Society’ is intentionally demotivating the children who are facing sexual harassment and restricting them from reporting such incidents of sexual harassment.
“If they have any particular incidents in which false cases were filed under POCSO Act, they should have come up with all details.” LRPF in its complaint noted.
Also, in page number 116 of their report, Persecution Relief admitted states that “Christian schools, Children Homes and Orphanages are being attacked by Hindu extremists in India”. It went on to state that if any incident occurs in any part of India, it immediately comes to the notice of the NCPCR and gets covered by media followed by action of law enforcement agencies and added that ‘Attacking against Child Homes in India’ is a false allegation and it should be investigated.
Speaking to The Commune, Working President of LRPF A.S. Santhosh said “Since ‘Abundant Life Society’ is partnering with the Government of Madhya Pradesh and receiving foreign donations from the US registered NGO Persecution Relief, we are very much worried about the legal norms they are following in this procedure and also the security of the children at homes and shelters being maintained by ‘Abundant Life Society’ headed by the notorious person like Shibu Thomas.”
The LRPF has now written to the NCPCR to initiate an enquiry into the matter of Children Homes run by ‘Abundant Life Society’ and the condition of children of those homes.
To read about the expose story of Persecution Relief, click here.