Bishops, political leaders condemn nuns’ arrest

India’s Catholic bishops and political leaders have condemned the arrest of two nuns and another person on “trumped up” charges of conversion and trafficking in the central state of Chhattisgarh on July 25

Sisters Vandana Francis and Preeta Mary of the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate (ASMI) order and Sukhman Mandavi, a resident of Narayanpur district of the state were arrested on accusations of human trafficking and kidnapping for proselytisation by self-proclaimed vigilantes of Bajrang Dal (pro-Hindu militant organisation) from Durg railway station in Chhattisgarh.

The nuns along with Mandavi were accompanying three women, aged between 18 and 19, to place them in convents in Agra in northern Uttar Pradesh for domestic work, Fr Sebastian Poomattam, Vicar General of the Raipur Archdiocese, said.

Raipur is the capital city of the central state of Chhattisgarh.

Women’s Council secretary, Sr Asha Paul said the women were travelling with the sisters on their own volition for employment. They had consent letters from their parents and identity proof besides train tickets.

“But the police refused to hear the nuns’ entreaties to contact the parents of the women and record their statements before initiating prosecution. Instead, they brazenly sided with the suspected Bajrang Dal activists and arrested the nuns on non-bailable charges,” she said.

The sisters were currently in judicial remand at a Durg prison and a court will hear their bail plea on Monday.

Terming the arrest as an infringement on the fundamental right to freedom of religion and unrestricted movement, the Catholic bishops body said they will raise the issue on all appropriate platforms and “oppose any attempt to malign the dignity of nuns and priests or to curtail religious freedom”.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) accused the Bajrang Dal activists of detaining the nuns with police connivance.

The bishops sought the federal government’s intervention to prevent such incidents and ensure the safety and protection of women, especially those in religious service, said Fr Robinson Rodrigues, CBCI spokesperson.

The Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC) from the southern state to which the jailed nuns belong, said, “This distressing incident is part of a broader and deeply troubling pattern of increasing hostility towards Christians and missionary personnel across states.

“The weaponisation of anti-conversion laws by extremist groups is not only unjust but also pose a serious threat to the constitutional rights of religious minorities in the country.”

Meanwhile, opposition members backed by Congress party staged a protest in Parliament over the arrest.

Leader of Opposition and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said “This isn’t justice; it’s BJP-RSS mob rule. It reflects a dangerous pattern: systematic persecution of minorities under this regime…We demand their immediate release and accountability for this injustice.”

It is the latest incident in the long series of persecution of minorities in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled States, chiefly (eastern) Odisha, (central) Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary (Organisation) and Member of Parliament, K.C. Venugopal, MP, said on social media platform X.

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