New Delhi: MPs from both the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and United Democratic Front (UDF) that is in the opposition in Kerala protested simultaneously outside Parliament on Monday, denouncing the arrest of two nuns on so-called “trumped up” charges in Chhattisgarh on Saturday.
The nuns are from Kerala. A man who was accompanying them was also arrested. They have been accused of human trafficking, and the abduction of three young women, one of them a tribal, with the motive to convert them.
UDF MPs held placards denouncing the “Hindu right-wing” Bajrang Dal’s “coercive role” in the arrest of Sister Vandana Francis and Sister Preeta Mary of the order of the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate (ASMI).
“Sangh Parivar activists held a kangaroo court at the railway station, falsely accusing the nuns of attempting to spirit away three women, including an Adivasi, to Agra for conversion to Christianity,” they claimed.
Both the UDF and the LDF accused the Chhattisgarh police of towing the Bajrang Dal line meekly by sending the sisters into judicial remand.
Union minister of state for Minority Affairs George Kurian told reporters in New Delhi that the matter was still sub judice and he could not risk hazarding an opinion until the court processes the nuns’ arrest.
He stated that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Kerala president Rajeev Chandrasekhar was working closely with the Central and Chhattisgarh governments, as well as the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), to secure the early release of the nuns.
LDF’s Rajya Sabha member John Brittas moved a notice in the Upper House, demanding an adjournment debate on the “unjust” arrests. He also wrote to Vishnu Deo Sai, the chief minister of Chhattisgarh, demanding the immediate release of the nuns.
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding justice for the “unfairly incarcerated” nuns.
The nuns were arrested at Durg Railway Station in Chhattisgarh. The man with them has been identified as Sukhman Mandavi. The three women ‘rescued’ from the spot and sent to a shelter, are aged between 18-19. They are from Narayanpur in Chhattisgarh.
Father Sebastian Poomattam, vicar general of the Raipur Archdiocese, said that the nuns were accompanying the women to place them in convents in Agra for domestic work. “These women were being offered jobs as kitchen helpers with a monthly salary between Rs 8,000 and Rs 10,000. They had the consent letters from their parents and were all above 18 years of age,” he said.
It was a railway ticket examiner who first questioned the group on the platform at Durga.
“The girls and one man entered the platform where the nuns were waiting. The examiner asked about their tickets, and they said the nuns had them. Soon after, the examiner informed local Bajrang Dal members, who arrived in large numbers within minutes,” Fr Poomattam said.
The Bajrang Dal demanded their arrest and the police complied. All three have been sent to judicial custody till August 8.
“We have all the evidence of parental consent forms, identification, and documentation that proves no force or conversion was involved,” another nun said.
AICC general secretary K C Venugopal wrote to the Union home minister and the Chhattisgarh chief minister demanding strict action. “It is deeply disturbing that self proclaimed vigilantes can instigate communal tension and make baseless accusations of conversion and trafficking without any legal foundation. Despite clear documentation and parental consent, the authorities have chosen to keep the nuns and the man in custody, reportedly under political pressure. This is a clear miscarriage of justice and an attack on the rights of minority communities,” he said.
Meanwhile, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Kerala general secretary Anil Vilayil justified the arrests. He alleged that the women travelling with nuns included an underage tribal.