Children at the Missionaries of Charity home. Picture by Nishit Dholabhai

Borduria (Tirap), Jan. 6: The birth of twins may be reason for a double celebration in most homes, but two spells trouble in superstition-ridden Nocte territory.

In the interiors of Arunachal Pradesh’s Tirap district, twins and deformed infants are routinely killed because the Nocte tribe believes their birth is a bad omen.

A lucky few survive and are brought up by charitable organisations.

The Missionaries of Charity-run orphanage here is home to as many as 15 pairs of twins and scores of physically challenged Nocte children disowned by their parents.

Sister Clarina, one of the missionaries who have dedicated their lives to the task of bringing up these children, said infanticide was rampant despite social reformers relentlessly campaigning against superstition. She said the 15 pairs of twins being brought up at the orphanage were rescued over the past decade.

The Missionaries of Charity set up the Borduria shelter in 1993 and has since rehabilitated hundreds of discarded children. “We send most of the rescued children to Calcutta for adoption,” Sister Clarina said.

Father Mathai of the Borduria parish, however, said the battle was far from won. “We need people who can informs us about every birth in Nocte villages. Otherwise, twins and deformed children will continue to be killed.”

At Muktua village near here, a couple recently accepted an infant after its twin died.

One of Sister Clarina’s colleagues recalled receiving a call from somebody not long ago about twins being born in a Nocte village close to Borduria.

“On reaching the place, I saw the mother was lying on one side, not even looking at her babies. They were just left there to die,” she said, picking up a little child to give him a wash.

The work done by the Missionaries of Charity has motivated at least seven youths of this village of less than 1,500 people to join the movement. Of the five women who have joined the order, Adeline Paul is the seniormost and based in Nagaon town of Assam at present. Maria Clarita is in Mongolia, while Anita is at Papum Pare in Arunachal Pradesh.

Brothers Francis and Claytus Mongchan are working elsewhere in the country.