Durg (Chhattisgarh) [India], July 30 : The arrest of two Kerala-based Catholic nuns in Chhattisgarh on charges of human trafficking and religious conversion has ignited a political storm, with leaders from the Congress accusing the ruling BJP of targeting Christian minorities and suppressing legitimate rights.
The incident took place on July 25 at Durg Railway Station, where nuns were arrested by police after a complaint was filed by a local.
Speaking to the media in Durg, senior Congress leader and former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said, "We wrote a letter to the CM and also raised this issue in the Lok Sabha, and we all gave statements against it. A delegation of MPs and MLAs from Kerala had come to meet them, but they were told to come tomorrow because a BJP delegation is in Raipur, so they were not allowed to meet. I told the DG that they should be allowed to meet; otherwise, we will stage a sit-in here... now their meeting has happened..."
In Delhi, veteran Congress MP K. Suresh blamed right-wing elements for orchestrating the incident. "After the BJP came to power in Chhattisgarh, the Christian minorities are attacked every day by Bajrang Dal with the support of the BJP government. Two days ago, two girls came with consent to join the Nuns for work. But the Bajrang Dal decided that these nuns took two girls for conversion from Hinduism to Christianity. So they attacked the nuns. After that, the Chhattisgarh Police filed an FIR. The two innocent nuns and those girls are in jail...," he said.
CPI leader Annie Raja, who also attempted to meet the arrested women, alleged political interference in the prison's handling of the case.
"We give a proper application. While giving the application, the authorities said that they will do all the arrangements. Now they are saying that we have violated the rules of the jail. The people who came before us said that they had met the nuns after 3 pm... They might have gotten the orders from the CM, RSS, or the Bajrang Dal by not allowing us to meet them...," he said.
On July 27, the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) also strongly condemned the alleged incident, claiming that, according to reports, the women had explicit written permission from their parents but were physically assaulted after being arrested.
CBCI's statement read, "Such incidents not only threaten the modesty of women but also put their lives in grave danger. These repeated, unwarranted actions are a serious violation of the Constitution and cannot be tolerated."