Two Malayali Catholic nuns, Preetha Mary and Vandana Francis, were arrested and jailed by Chhattisgarh police after being targeted by members of the Bajrang Dal, who falsely accused them of engaging in forced religious conversions.
The incident occurred on Friday at Durg railway station, where Sisters Vandana and Preetha—members of the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate (ASMI), a congregation under the Syro-Malabar Church headquartered in Cherthala, Kerala—were taken into custody.
The nuns, who work at Fatima Hospital in Agra, were accompanying three young women to Chhattisgarh, reportedly to begin domestic work. The group was intercepted at the station by a Train Ticket Examiner (TTE) for not possessing platform tickets. During questioning, the young women, aged between 19 and 22, told the TTE they were travelling to work under the care of the nuns. One of the girls’ brothers was also present.
According to reports, the TTE informed local Bajrang Dal members, who then arrived at the station and began accusing the nuns of attempting to convert the girls. Despite the women clearly stating they were already Christians and had travelled with their parents’ written consent—including copies of ID cards permitting them to work with the sisters—the mob insisted it was a case of “forced conversion.”
The group was forced to deboard the train, and both the police and the Bajrang Dal members escorted them to the police station. There, the police registered charges of human trafficking and forced conversion against the two nuns. It was also claimed that one of the girls had told police she had been taken without her consent.
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Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday also sought Modi’s intervention in ensuring justice to the two nuns, PTI reported.
In a letter to the prime minister, the chief minister said that Mary and Francis were arrested when they had gone to receive women who were coming to work in their convent.
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com. Read the full story here.