Kerala Nuns’ Arrest: Chhattisgarh Woman Now Says ‘Was Coerced to Give Adverse Statement’
New Delhi: In a fresh twist to the arrest of two nuns from Kerala in Chhattisgarh, one of the women who they have been accused of converting to Christianity and thereafter trafficking, has told The Indian Express that she was “coerced to give an adverse statement against them.”
The arrest of the two Malayali nuns – Preeti Marry and Vandana Francis – along with another person, Sukhman Mandavi, by police at Durg railway station on July 24, based on the complaint of a local Bajrang Dal worker that they were forcibly converting three women from Narayanpur and were attempting to traffic them, has created a nationwide uproar, and also caused an attack on minority communities.
The Indian Express report said that one the three persons, a 21-one year old tribal woman, told the newspaper 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 (First Information Report) on what members of the Bajrang Dal told them”.
The woman, who had returned to her home in Narayanpur on July 30 after spending five days at a shelter home in Durg, told the daily on phone, “Please release all three (the arrested accused), they are innocent.”
Recounting the sequence of events on July 24 that led to the arrest of the nuns at the Durg railway station, the woman said she had gone to the station 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 FIR on a statement given by Bajrang Dal members.
The woman from Narayanpur said she, along with the other two women from Orcha in Narayanpur, had reached the railway station around 6 AM. According to the report, “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 related over phone, “They took us to the railway police station. We were scolded a lot, and Jyoti Sharma hit me twice on the face.”
The woman alleged that Sharma told her “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.”
“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’,” the woman said.
Jyoti Sharma, when contacted by Express, 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.”
Meanwhile, Rishi Mishra, the Bajrang Dal’s state coordinator, told the daily, “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.”
Misha told the newspaper that Sharma “is not from the Bajrang Dal but from the Durga Vahini Matrushakti.” On being asked, she identified 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 report added.
The nuns were refused bail by a local court in Durg on July 30, stating that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the plea as the charges involved serious offences, including human trafficking, which comes under the ambit of the National Investigating Agency (NIA).
“The judge directed that the matter be taken up with the special NIA court in Bilaspur,” as per a Matrubhumi report. It said the advocates of the nuns are preparing to move a fresh bail plea in the Chhattisgarh high court.
“Meanwhile, the court move triggered celebrations by Bajrang Dal activists who had gathered outside the court in large numbers,” said the report.
The issue has been raised in the ongoing parliament session, with MPs from Kerala demanding immediate release of the nuns. Three MPs from the southern state who visited the nuns in Durg jail, also met Union home minister Amit Shah on July 30 on the matter.
This article went live on July thirty-first, two thousand twenty five, at twenty-six minutes past four in the afternoon.The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
