Kerala nuns named in FIR for conversion, trafficking in Chhattisgarh
The FIR was filed under: Section 4 of the Chhattisgarh Freedom of Religion Act, 1968, which deals with unlawful religious conversions, Section 143 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita
The FIR was filed under: Section 4 of the Chhattisgarh Freedom of Religion Act, 1968, which deals with unlawful religious conversions, Section 143 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita
The FIR was filed under: Section 4 of the Chhattisgarh Freedom of Religion Act, 1968, which deals with unlawful religious conversions, Section 143 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita
Durg: Two nuns from Kerala, Sister Vandana Francis from Thalassery and Sister Preethi Mary from Angamaly, have been named as the first and second accused in a case registered in Chhattisgarh on charges of attempted religious conversion and human trafficking. The FIR, filed at the Government Railway Police (GRP) station in Bhilai, has drawn widespread condemnation from Church authorities, human rights activists and Kerala’s political leadership.
The case was registered based on a complaint by a local resident, Ravi Nigam of Bhilai, who claimed he witnessed the nuns receiving three girls from Bastar region at the Durg railway station around 8.30 am on July 25. According to the FIR, Nigam alleged that the girls were handed over by a local boy to the nuns, Preethi Mary (first accused) and Vandana Francis (second accused), and were being taken to Agra. He suspected it was a case of forced religious conversion and trafficking, and urged the police to take action.
The FIR was filed under: Section 4 of the Chhattisgarh Freedom of Religion Act, 1968, which deals with unlawful religious conversions, Section 143 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, which pertains to human trafficking. A third person, Sukhman Mandavi, a resident of Chhattisgarh who handed over the girls to the nuns, has also been named as the third accused in the case.
According to the police version, the girls were being transported without proper intimation to local authorities and one of them was reportedly a minor. The nuns were arrested soon after and remanded to judicial custody.
However, the church has dismissed the allegations as false and communally motivated. They stated that the girls were travelling to join work at a Church-run hospital in Agra with full consent from their parents.
Political leaders in Kerala, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, have condemned the incident. The CM has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking immediate intervention. Meanwhile, Congress MPs from the state have submitted notices in Parliament demanding a discussion on rising incidents of targeted attacks on Christian minorities.