The arrest of two Keralite nuns on charges of human trafficking and kidnapping for forced religious conversion at the Durg railway station in Chhattisgarh on Friday has drawn sharp criticism from Church leaders and also the ruling front and the Opposition in Kerala.
Fr. Robin Rodrigues, a spokesperson of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), told reporters in Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh, on Sunday that the nuns were travelling with three other women, aged between 18 and 19, from Durg to Agra when persons suspected to be Bajrang Dal workers accosted them angrily.
He said they accused the nuns, Sister Vandana Francis, from the Udayagiri parish at Thalassery in Kannur, and Sister Preeta Mary from the Elavoor parish at Angamaly in Ernakulam, of taking women to Agra to convert them to Christianity and offering them money, food, and accommodation as inducements. Both are attached to the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate (ASMI) order.
CBCI Women’s Council secretary Asha Paul said the women were travelling with the sisters on their own volition. They had consent letters from their parents and identity proof, including Aadhar, and railway tickets.
Judicial remand
Sister Asha alleged that the police refused to hear the nuns’ entreaties to contact the parents of the women and record their statements before initiating prosecution. Instead, the officers brazenly sided with the suspected Bajrang Dal activists and arrested the nuns on non-bailable charges. She said the sisters were currently in judicial remand at a Durg prison and a court will hear their bail plea on Monday.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal, MP, said the arrest of the nuns on “trumped up” charges was the latest incident in the long series of persecution of minorities in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled States in north India, chiefly Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.
Mr. Venugopal told reporters in New Delhi that he has conveyed Congress’s strong protest to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and Union Home Minister Amit Shah against the high-handedness of the State police.
PM’s intervention sought
Left Democratic Front (LDF) leader and chairperson of the Kerala Congress (M) Jose K. Mani, MP, posted on social media that he has sought the urgent intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop mob attacks against Christians and Church leaders in BJP-ruled States.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan depicted the BJP as a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”. He said the BJP made a show of visiting Church leaders, Christian households, and bishops to woo the community to its fold. At the same time, the BJP unleashed the Sangh Parivar forces against Christians in States where it held power.
Published – July 27, 2025 09:17 pm IST
