Durg (Chhattisgarh) [India], August 1 : Following the arrest of two Malayali nuns in Chhattisgarh on the charges of forced religious conversion and human trafficking, Congress MP Anto Antony said that both have serious health problems, the issue has been raised in the Parliament, and they stood for the justice for the nuns.
Speaking to ANI Antony said, "We visited the nuns, both have serious health problems, and didn't get their medicines. They didn't get a doctor's facility. We requested the authorities to provide them with medicines and a doctor. If they get bail they are ready to go to a hospital. There is human rights violation. They were harassed at the railway station and police station. We asked the government to take case against those who harassed the nuns. We have already raised the issue in the Parliament. We stand for the justice for the nuns."
The nuns from Kerala were arrested at Durg Railway Station in Chhattisgarh on July 25.
Kerala BJP President Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday said that the Chhattisgarh government has agreed not to oppose the bail applications for the two nuns.
"We hope that they get bail in the coming days because the state government has agreed not to oppose their bail," Chandrasekhar told ANI.
"Both the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and the Home Minister (Amit Shah) have clearly said that justice will be given to the two nuns who have been arrested there under the local laws. Some mistakes have been made by the nuns in terms of uploading on the portal. Regardless of that, the Church reached out to me six days ago, and we have been working relentlessly to ensure that the nuns get justice and the judicial process moves forward to give them bail," he said.
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) strongly condemned the arrest, claiming that, according to reports, the women had explicit written permission from their parents but were physically assaulted after being arrested.
Earlier today, Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma asked whether the Congress was attempting to put pressure on the court by staging protests after two nuns from Kerala were arrested over charges of forced religious conversion and human trafficking.
"This has nothing to do with votes. Earlier too, a delegation from the Congress party had come, and we facilitated their meeting with them (the two nuns)," Sharma told ANI. "But they should understand whether by doing this, they are trying to pressure the court? This is a matter on which the police have taken action; whether bail will be granted or not, the court will decide," he said.
In Kerala, both the ruling Left Democratic Front and the Opposition United Democratic Front condemned the arrest and accused the BJP government in Chhattisgarh of undermining religious freedom.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor condemned as "a grave injustice" the arrest of two nuns.
"The arrest of nuns is a grave injustice. They have not done anything against the law," Tharoor told reporters in the national capital.
He said that the nuns were just taking some tribal girls to the city for employment.
"Seeing this, members of the Bajrang Dal raised a false alarm and the police came and arrested the nuns. This is not right. When everyone is raising objections to it, they are still in jail for the last one week... BJP's Kerala unit is saying they will travel to Chhattisgarh to get them bail. Nothing has happened so far," he said.