Fact Check: Were Two Rourkela Women In Nuns’ Harassment Case Proselytised?

Bhubaneswar: The religious identities of two women from Odisha’s Rourkela accompanying the nuns, who were forced to get off a train in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi by members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on March 19, have come under the scanner.

The incident took place while the nuns from the Congregation of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart were travelling by Haridwar-Puri Utkal Express with two postulants on holiday from their Delhi convent to Rourkela.

They were allegedly heckled by a mob who accused them of conducting religious conversion. Although the two young women showed their identity number and other proofs of being Christians, the ABVP activists allegedly continued to harass them.

Following a strongly-worded letter from Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday promised action in the matter.

In a detailed statement, Superintendent of Railway Police, Jhansi, Naeem Khan Mansuri said the novices had 2003 baptism certificates and this proved they were Christian by birth and that no conversion was involved.

Here’s the statement:

“There were some members of the ABVP who were returning from a training camp in Rishikesh on board the Utkal Express to Jhansi. Four Christian ladies were travelling on the same train from Hazrat Nizamuddin in Delhi to Rourkela in Odisha. Two of them were nuns and two were under training. These members of the ABVP suspected that these two nuns were taking the other two women for conversion because the nuns were speaking to the other ladies. On this suspicion, they informed the Railway Protection Force who in turn informed the railway police. These ABVP members also gave a written complaint about conversion. I reached the spot and made inquiries. These inquiries revealed that the two other women were from Odisha’s Rourkela and were under training. We checked their certificates and both had 2003 baptism certificates and this proved both women by birth were Christian and that no conversion was involved. After this, we sent all four women onwards to their destination in Odisha.”