Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has written to his Chhattisgarh counterpart, Vishnu Deo Sai, raising concern over the arrest of two nuns from Kerala by the Chhattisgarh Police.
The National People’s Party president, whose coalition government in Christian-majority Meghalaya also includes the BJP, wrote that the NPP believes this to be a “case of harassment and false allegations”. The letter asked the BJP-led Chhattisgarh government to consider revoking the case lodged against the nuns.
The two nuns, Preeti Marry and Vandana Francis, and another person, Sukhman Mandavi, were arrested last Friday at 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. The complaint alleged that they converted three women from Narayanpur and were attempting to traffic them.
One of the three women had earlier told The Indian Express that she was threatened and assaulted by a woman associated with a right-wing outfit and forced to change her statement.
In his letter, Sangma wrote that the nuns were arrested “under allegedly false charges and pressure from right-wing groups”.
“The situation arose when the nuns were accompanying three girls from Chhattisgarh to Agra. A Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) questioned the girls, who said they didn’t have tickets and were travelling at the nuns’ request. The TTE alerted local activists, who then alleged the nuns were attempting to take the girls for forced religious conversion. This claim sparked a protest, and the police detained the nuns and girls based on the activists’ complaint,” Sangma wrote.
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He requested CM Vishnu Deo Sai to ensure a fair investigation in the case, safeguard the rights of religious minorities in Chhattisgarh and consider revoking the case lodged against the nuns.
“A case has been lodged against the nuns under serious sections. We believe that this is a case of harassment and false allegations. Hence, we urge you to intervene and ensure justice. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) has also requested the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji and Hon’ble Home Minister Amit Shah ji to intervene in this matter,” he wrote.
