Left Democratic Front (LDF) MPs from Kerala will seek an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to flag the arrest of two Keralite nuns on “questionable charges” of forced conversion and human trafficking at the Durg railway station in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Chhattisgarh on July 25.
National president of the Democratic Youth Federation of India, A.A. Rahim, MP, who is in Chhattisgarh as part of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) delegation, which met the incarcerated nuns – Vandana Francis and Preeta Mary – of the order of the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate (ASMI) at the Durg central prison on Wednesday (July 30, 2025), told The Hindu that the MPs would demand the early release of the nuns and quashing of the “fake charges foisted” on them by the local law enforcement at the behest of Bajrang Dal activists.
Mr. Rahim said the move to secure early bail for the nuns appears to be an uphill task.
He said that a trial court in Durg recused itself from considering the sisters’ bail plea, stating the Bench lacked jurisdiction in the case.
Mr. Rahim said the court reportedly maintained that the human trafficking section in the first information report (FIR) precluded the Bench from hearing the case.
Mr. Rahim said the preliminary information suggested that the court would refer the case to the Special Court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) at Jagadalpur in Bastar.
Mr. Rahim said Bajrang Dal activists thronged the sessions court premises in Durg and raised intimidatory slogans, chanting that the nuns did not deserve bail.
He said the nurses told the LDF delegation that the police gave free rein to Bajrang Dal workers at the railway station and later at the station house. “The belligerent activists conducted a public trial, humiliating the sisters, questioning the women travelling with them and threatening and beating the 19-year-old tribal youth who accompanied the group to the railway station”, he said.
Mr. Rahim said the Left would raise the issue in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha again.
The Chhattisgarh police had arrested the nuns at the Durg railway station on July 25 after local activists of Bajrang Dal, a Hindu right-wing organisation, mobbed them on the charge of attempting to spirit away three women, including a tribal, to Agra for “forced conversion to Christianity.”
The police had charged the nuns under Section 143 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for trafficking and under Section 4 of the Chhattisgarh Religious Freedom Act, 1968. The charges entail imprisonment of up to 10 years and a fine of not less than ₹2 lakh.
Published – July 30, 2025 04:00 pm IST
