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Indian Express
10 hours ago
- Indian Express
Arrest of two Kerala nuns in Chhattisgarh: Was coerced to give adverse statement, says woman at centre of conversion row
Amid a storm over the arrest of two Kerala nuns on allegations of forcible conversion and trafficking in Chhattisgarh, one of the women they are accused of targeting has told The Indian Express that she was coerced to give an adverse statement against them. The nuns, Preeti Marry and Vandana Francis, and another person, Sukhman Mandavi, were arrested last Friday at the Durg railway station in Chhattisgarh. The FIR, registered under sections of the Chhattisgarh Religious Freedom Act and the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, was based on a complaint by a local Bajrang Dal worker, who alleged that the accused forcibly converted three women from Narayanpur and were attempting to traffic them. But one of the three Narayanpur women told The Indian Express that she was threatened and assaulted by Jyoti Sharma, a woman associated with a right-wing outfit, to change her statement, and the police based their FIR on what members of the Bajrang Dal told them. When contacted, Rishi Mishra, the Bajrang Dal's Chhattisgarh coordinator, told The Indian Express, 'A rickshaw driver associated with the Bajrang Dal overheard the conversation between the nuns and the women and suspected they were being trafficked, after which our workers reached the spot and gave a complaint to the GRP.' Jyoti Sharma, he said, is not from the Bajrang Dal but from the Durga Vahini Matrushakti. Sharma, when contacted, described herself as a Hindutvawadi who turns up 'wherever Hindutva needs saving'. Chhattisgarh DGP Arun Kumar Gautam declined to comment on the Narayanpur woman's allegations, saying, 'Matter is sub judice.' The 21-year-old woman, a tribal, reached her home in Narayanpur district on Wednesday after spending five days in a shelter home in Durg. 'Please release all three (arrested accused), they are innocent,' she said while speaking to The Indian Express on the phone. She said she had gone to Durg railway station on Friday to travel with the nuns of her own will, and with her parents' consent. She alleged that Sharma assaulted her, and the Government Railway Police (GRP) in Durg did not record her statement. Instead, she alleged, the police based the First Information Report on a statement given by Bajrang Dal members. The woman said she lives with her parents and four sisters, and earns Rs 250 a day as a daily wager. She said she learnt of a job from one of the arrested accused, Mandavi, who goes to the same church and is like a brother to her. The woman said, 'I used to cycle for nine kilometres every day for work. I have studied up to class 10. Mandavi offered me a job as a cook for the nuns and to look after patients (at a hospital in Agra). They promised Rs 10,000 apart from food, clothes and shelter. I was happy.' On the day of the arrest, the woman said she and two other women from Orcha in Narayanpur reached the Durg railway station around 6 am. They were accompanied by Mandavi. Around 9 am, the nuns, whom she had never met, arrived. Shortly after, a Bajrang Dal worker and the GRP reached the scene and started questioning them, she alleged. 'They took us to the railway police station. We were scolded a lot, and Jyoti Sharma hit me twice on the face. She said that if you do not follow what we say, we will put your siblings in jail and assault them. They wanted us to say that we were brought here forcibly. I told Sharma that I have come of my own will and have the consent of my parents. I said this inside the police station in the presence of two to three policemen,' she claimed. Sharma, when contacted, said, 'I did not touch any one of them. When I reached, they were already inside the police station. Will the police allow me to touch them? I am hearing this allegation for the first time; earlier, they were saying I beat a nun, which is false.' Asked how she learnt of the women at the railway station, Sharma said, 'One of the workers called me and said one of the women on platform number 1 was crying and wanted to go home. He called me and alerted me. I told him to take them to Durg GRP.' The Narayanpur woman said, 'I had met the nuns for the first time. When we were being assaulted, one of the nuns said, 'do not worry, I am here with you.' She told the person beating us, 'hit us, but not them'.'
Indian Express
a day ago
- Indian Express
Kerala nuns arrested in Chhattisgarh to remain in jail as judge says NIA court should hear their case
A sessions court in Chhattisgarh's Durg district has disposed of the bail application of two Kerala nuns arrested in an alleged forced conversion and human trafficking case, reasoning that the matter should be heard by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district. A detailed court order is awaited. Speaking with reporters, the secretary of the Durg Advocates Association, Ravi Shankar Singh, said, 'The bail application was filed in the sessions court on Tuesday. Today, the judge was on leave, so the Additional District Judge heard the matter. The judge said in one line that he does not have the authority to listen to the bail application because this (matter) comes under the NIA Act and the NIA court is in Bilaspur. The lawyer for the accused, however, argued that his clients are in jail in Durg. The judge then said he is disposing of the application. The court told the police that they have 15 days to write to the central government to handle this case in an NIA court. This means the nuns will have to remain in jail.' The nuns' lawyer, Tamaskar Tondon, had said on Tuesday, 'The FIR registered by the Government Railway Police in Durg is based on mere suspicion that a crime has happened. The GRP have not done any preliminary inquiry; hence, the FIR is quashable. Further, the women (the nuns are accused of trafficking) are all adults, and their family members did not have an issue with them going away for work. Also, the FIR is registered under pressure by a woman seen in the video moving in and out of the police station.' On Wednesday, Tondon said, 'The court order is awaited, but the judge said that looking at the offences, the NIA court must hear the matter, and permission needs to be taken from the central government. But we argued why the nuns should be kept in jail all this time when this is not their fault.' Rajkumar Tiwari, also a lawyer for the accused, said, 'The bail has been disposed of as the court observed that section 143 (trafficking of a person) is triable by an NIA court and this court does not have jurisdiction. Now, the state or central government committee… will decide whether the matter will go to an NIA court or not. Till then, the case will remain with GRP. As our clients are in custody, we have two options. We will either go to an NIA court or the High Court. This is because if the matter is related to an NIA court, then our clients must get relief till then. We are discussing whether to approach High Court with a writ petition.' The nuns, Preeti Marry and Vandana Francis, and one more person, Sukaman Mandavi, were arrested last Friday at the Durg railway station in Chhattisgarh on allegations that they were involved in forceful conversion and human trafficking. The FIR, registered under sections of the Chhattisgarh Religious Freedom Act and the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, was based on a complaint by a local Bajrang Dal worker, who alleged that the accused forcibly converted three women from Narayanpur district and were attempting to traffic them. The arrests have blown up into a major political flashpoint not only in Chhattisgarh but also in Kerala and Delhi, where Left Democratic Front and United Democratic Front MPs from Kerala held separate protests outside Parliament. On Wednesday, Brinda Karat, a member of CPI (M) politburo, tried to meet the nuns. She said later, 'This (persecution of minorities) is going on everywhere in the country. Even during Bhupesh Baghel's rule, these incidents were happening. We do not see it from a political lens. This is a women's issue. The women (the nuns are accused of trafficking) are adults. Why do they need to give a permission letter for going with anyone anywhere for work?' Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Baghel called it 'the politics of polarisation'. 'Our party's general secretary has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, and we also raised the issue in Lok Sabha. In whichever states the BJP is in power, they target the minorities there for the sake of votes,' Baghel wrote on X.
The Hindu
2 days ago
- The Hindu
Conviction rate in human trafficking cases only 8 per cent in A.P.: NGO representatives
Representatives of various non-governmental organisations (NGOs) said that the conviction rate in human trafficking cases was only 8 per cent in Andhra Pradesh, and many of the accused were acquitted and moving freely. 'Due to negligence on trafficking cases and lack of monitoring and support to the victims, the accused in many cases were acquitted,' said HELP secretary N. Ram Mohan. V. Ramakrishna, project director of RHEDS, an NGO, said that as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data 1,396 cases were registered on human trafficking and 2,119 victims were rescued from 2016 to 2022. Anusha from Vimukthi, another NGO, said that as per NCRB data, 771 victims were rescued in 594 cases booked under Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956, during the same period. 'As per the study conducted by the NGOs, Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs), which are authorised to book and arrest the accused in trafficking cases, have not registered even a single case in the State in the last three years,' Mr. Ram Mohan told The Hindu on Tuesday. 'Traffickers were luring poor women on the pretext of providing jobs and offering loans through various social media platforms and pushing them into flesh trade,' said Sujatha, manager of NGO GUIDE. HELP project manager V. Bhaskar appealed to the investigation agencies to keep a tab on social media groups, track the movements of traffickers arrested and mediators in the trafficking cases. 'Officers attached to AHTUs should be given more teeth, impart training to the investigation officers from time to time, conduct coordination meetings among the line departments and focus on victim support to increase conviction rate in trafficking cases,' said Vimukthi member Munna.
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Hindustan Times
Police busts sex racket in Maharashtra's Palghar; 3 Bangladeshi nationals held
Police have arrested three Bangladeshi nationals after busting a prostitution racket operating at a house in Maharashtra's Palghar district and rescued a minor girl and a woman from the premises, officials said on Tuesday. During the raid, the police caught three alleged agents in the flat and rescued a minor girl who was being pushed into flesh trade.( Praful Gangurde /HT Photo) Acting on a tip, the police's anti-human trafficking cell personnel conducted a raid in a flat at Naigaon in Vasai area on July 26. During the raid, the police caught three alleged agents in the flat and rescued a minor girl who was being pushed into flesh trade, Mira Bhayander-Vasai Virar's Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Madan Ballal said. A woman, aged 21, was also rescued from the premises, he said. The three arrested individuals have been identified as Mohammad Khalid Bapari, Juber Harun Sheikh and Shamin Gaffar Sardar, all hailing from Bangladesh, the official said. The rescued girl and the woman also hail from Bangladesh, and had allegedly been trafficked into India and forced into the flesh trade, he said. They have been lodged at a centre of the Rescue Foundation, the official said. An FIR has been registered against the accused under various sections, including 96 (procuration of child), 98 (selling child for purposes of prostitution, etc), 143(3), 143(4) (trafficking of person) and 144 (exploitation of a trafficked person) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. They have also been booked under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, the police said.
Indian Express
3 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
2 nuns arrested in Chhattisgarh on conversion charges; ‘targeted for their faith,' claims Rahul Gandhi
The arrest of three people – including two nuns – in Chhattisgarh on conversion allegations has snowballed into a political row, with Opposition Congress calling it 'systematic persecution of minorities'. The arrested people have been identified as nuns Preeti Marry and Vandana Francis, and another person, Sukaman Mandavi. An FIR was registered on the back of a complaint from a local Bajrang Dal worker who alleged the suspects had 'forcibly converted' three women from Narayanpur district and were attempting to traffic them. 'An FIR has been registered against them under relevant sections of the Chhattisgarh Religious Freedom Act and the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act,' a GRP official said, adding that when questioned, the victims had alleged that they had been promised jobs and were being taken to Agra, and that one of the suspects had brought them to Durg station. The arrests have drawn a backlash, with Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi claiming that the nuns were being 'being targeted for their faith'. 'It reflects a dangerous pattern: systematic persecution of minorities under this regime,' he said on X, calling it the 'RSS-BJP mob rule'. 'UDF MPs protested in Parliament today. We will not be silent. Religious freedom is a constitutional right. We demand their immediate release and accountability for this injustice.' All India Congress Committee general secretary KC Venugopal also made similar allegations. 'UDF MPs held a strong protest outside Parliament today against the shocking arrest and harassment of Catholic nuns in Durg in Chhattisgarh. They were targeted by a violent mob despite no wrongdoing. By the BJP-RSS ecosystem, all minorities are treated as criminals and lumpen elements are unleashed to intimidate fellow citizens practising their faith. This jugalbandi between Bajrang Dal goons and the police in Chhattisgarh shows the BJP's real intent towards religious minorities,' he said, adding: 'We demand their immediate release and justice for the innocent nuns'.
