The Congress on Wednesday staged a protest at Parliament’s Makar Dwar against the arrest of two Kerala nuns in Chhattisgarh, demanding their immediate release and alleging that they were falsely accused and mistreated by authorities.
The two nuns were arrested on charges of human trafficking and religious conversion on July 25 at Chhattisgarh’s Durg Railway Station.
Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi joined the protest where Congress MPs held placards reading “Release the nuns, arrest the goons.”
Speaking to reporters at the Parliament premises, Priyanka Gandhi said, “Some nuns from Kerala were very badly ill-treated, they were accused of things they were not doing, manhandled and taken away by police in Chhattisgarh. Two or three ladies, along with a bunch of ladies, should not be manhandled and treated like this, and you cannot accuse people of things they are not doing.”
She criticised the state government, alleging that it is only concerned with public relations and election publicity, and does not act on serious issues.
“The government doesn’t take action on anything except their PR, their publicity or when elections are coming, what face they want to show. They do not take action on anything concrete. I don’t expect action, but it is our job to push them and pressurise them as much as we can,” she added.
On July 28, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai described the arrest and alleged harassment of the Kerala nuns as a “serious matter related to women’s safety.”
In a post on X, the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister said that three girls from Narayanpur had been promised nursing training and were handed over to the two nuns at Durg station by a person from Narayanpur district. He claimed the girls were being taken to Agra and that an inducement was made to engage them in human trafficking.
On July 30, Bhupesh Bhagel said the Congress had raised the issue in the Lok Sabha and had also written to the Chief Minister.
A five-member delegation led by Congress MP Francis George visited Durg Central Jail to meet the nuns.
On July 27, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) strongly condemned the alleged incident, stating that reports suggested the women had written permission from their parents but were physically assaulted.
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