Raipur: Amid a growing political storm over the arrest of two Kerala-based nuns, the BJP’s Chhattisgarh unit on Saturday intensified its attack on the Congress, accusing the party of shielding those involved in religious conversion and human trafficking.

In a now-deleted post on X, the BJP shared a controversial cartoon showing Congress leaders bowing before two nuns. The nuns are depicted holding a tribal woman on a leash labelled “religious conversion” and “human trafficking”. The accompanying caption read: “Congress party supports religious conversion and human traffickers.”

The BJP’s post also underscores the contradictory positions taken by its party units in Kerala and Chhattisgarh. While Chhattisgarh BJP has aggressively accused the Congress of shielding human traffickers, BJP Kerala state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar struck a conciliatory note on Friday, calling the arrest of the two nuns a “misunderstanding” and expressing hope that they would be granted bail soon. Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai took a firm stand, saying the matter involved allegations of human trafficking and religious conversion through inducement, and should not be politicised. “This is a serious matter concerning the safety of women. The investigation is ongoing and the case is sub judice,” he said.

A special NIA court in Bilaspur on Saturday granted bail to the three accused, nuns Preethi Mary and Vandana Francis, and Sukaman Mandavi, who were arrested on July 25 at the Durg railway station on the grounds of religious conversion and human trafficking. The arrest followed a complaint by a local Bajrang Dal leader, who alleged the trio had forcibly converted and trafficked three young women from Narayanpur.

The bail hearing was held before Principal District and Sessions Judge (NIA court) Sirajuddin Qureshi. Defence lawyer Amrito Das told the court that the accused were not remanded to custody, and the alleged victims have already returned home. “All three women are adults who had embraced Christianity prior to the incident. There was no force or fraud involved,” he said, adding that the parents of the women also confirmed to police that their daughters were not being taken away against their will.

The arrests triggered uproar in Parliament earlier this week, with opposition leaders accusing the government of targeting minorities. On Friday, a delegation from the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in Kerala arrived in Raipur to meet the detained nuns. Members of the delegation alleged that the decision to transfer the case to the NIA court was a deliberate move to delay bail.