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The Hindu
2 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Kerala BJP scrambles to mend bridges with Church leaders after nuns' arrest in Chhattisgarh
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kerala on Thursday (July 31, 2025) appeared to scramble to mend bridges with Church leaders after the arrest of two Keralite nuns in Chhattisgarh on 'questionable charges' of forced conversion and human trafficking threatened to strain relations and undermine the party's ambitious outreach to the electorally significant Christian community ahead of the local body polls later this year and the Assembly elections in 2026. BJP State president Rajeev Chandrasekhar will likely reach Kochi late on Thursday to apprise top prelates of the attempts taken by the party in conjunction with its counterparts in New Delhi and Chhattisgarh to secure the early release of the reportedly ailing nuns, both senior citizens. The nuns, Vandana Francis and Preetha Mary, of the order of the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate (ASMI), hailing from Kannur and Ernakulam, respectively, are currently under judicial remand in reportedly harsh conditions in Durg Central Prison after a district sessions court recused from hearing their bail plea on Wednesday, citing a lack of jurisdiction. The court maintained that the human trafficking section in the first information report (FIR) precluded the Bench from hearing the case. The alleged involvement of Bajrang Dal, a Sangh Parivar affiliate and youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, in the arrests has put the BJP on the defensive in Kerala. Moreover, the silence of Union Minister Suresh Gopi, who won from the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency where Christians form a decisive electoral bloc, had drawn criticism from the ruling front and the Opposition in Kerala and seemed not to have helped the BJP's ambitions to make further inroads into the minority community's strongholds in central Kerala. Notably, the Catholic Bishops' Council of India organised a mammoth march to the Kerala Raj Bhavan on Wednesday to protest against the arrests. At least three prelates, including Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, led the march by hundreds of members of the laity. Union Minister of State for Fisheries George Kurian said legacy churches in Chhattisgarh were not into proselytism and conversion to Christianity as alleged. He said some 'new generations' were engaged in the activity, which the State law deemed unlawful. He accused the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] of attempting to make political capital out of the nuns' incarceration. 'The BJP is trying hard to get justice for the nuns. The Congress and the CPI(M) want them to remain in jail, and their public posturing and controversial statements in Chhattisgarh were an attempt to throw a spanner in the works of the BJP's efforts to secure the sisters' early release. Not one Congress MP from Chhattisgarh has echoed the accusations made by Congress leaders from Kerala in Parliament,' he added. Mr. Chandrasekhar dubbed the Congress and CPI(M) delegations meeting the nuns in Durg Central prison as 'theatrics and opportunist politics.'
New Indian Express
6 hours ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Kerala nuns' arrest: Church heads lead priests, laity in protest march
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With their mouths gagged, heads of various rites of the Catholic Church in Kerala led hundreds of nuns, priests and laity in a silent march from the Martyrs' Column to the Raj Bhavan on Wednesday, protesting the arrest of two Keralite nuns in Chhattisgarh. Addressing the protesters after the culmination of the march in front of the Raj Bhavan, Kerala Catholic Bishops Council president Cardinal Baselios Cleemis minced no words in criticising the BJP, which is in power in Chhattisgarh. 'Questions are being raised about some people arriving at palaces with cakes for Christmas and Easter... The Christian community expects a little more sincerity,' he said in an apparent reference to the BJP's Christian outreach programme. 'Rajeev Chandrasekhar has admitted that the allegations against the nuns are not true. Then, why are they still behind bars? Why can't they be released?' he wondered. The imprisonment of the nuns is a clear violation of religious freedom, Mar Cleemis said. Expressing anguish over reports that some had celebrated the rejection of their bail plea, he said, 'Is this the kind of secular democracy that we have been talking about? Those in power must show the will to resolve this issue. The nuns are not traitors.'
The Hindu
16 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Arrest and unrest: on arrest of nuns in Chhattisgarh
The arrest of two Catholic nuns by the Chhattisgarh police on charges of human trafficking and forced conversion is another instance of growing religion-related harassment. Keralite Sisters Preeti Mary and Vandana Francis, from the order of the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate, were escorting three tribal girls to an Agra convent for jobs when they were apprehended from Durg railway station on July 25 after a Bajrang Dal member filed a complaint. They have been booked under Section 4 of the Chhattisgarh Freedom of Religion Act, 1968 (conversion) and Section 143 of the BNS (trafficking). While Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai insisted that the nuns were engaging in 'human trafficking and conversion... through inducement', the kin of the girls have since clarified that there was no forceful conversion and they had given their consent to be taken to Agra. The arrests have led to condemnation across the political spectrum against communal vigilantism. Leaders across political lines have protested. Ruling Left Democratic Front and Opposition United Democratic Front MPs from Kerala held dharnas outside Parliament, and the Catholic Church, through its official mouthpiece, Deepika, and other church organisations too denounced the arrests. This is not the first time that a proselytisation row has erupted involving Christian missionaries. Last year marked 25 years of the brutal killing of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons in Odisha. Despite the fact that the Constitution provides citizens the right to practise and propagate the religion of their choice, several States, including U.P., M.P., Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Odisha, have misused provisions of anti-conversion laws that were intended only to prevent conversion through force or fraud or allurement. These laws are often used to criminalise interfaith marriages by labelling conversion by marriage as unlawful. In tribal-dominated regions such as Jharkhand, there is another tension brewing between Adivasis and both Christian tribals and Hindus. While Hindutva groups with the RSS's backing are exhorting tribals to wake up to their Hindu roots, tribal outfits are resisting this and demanding a separate Sarna religious code. Tribal outfits allege that the Hindu groups are doing the same thing as Christian missionaries to subsume their distinct culture. In Chhattisgarh, which has around a 2% Christian population according to the 2011 Census, there is also a debate on whether tribals who are converting to Christianity should be delisted from the Scheduled Tribes. In such a churn, the onus is on political, religious and social organisations to focus on economic development, jobs and welfare. Government machineries should be used to enforce rights, guaranteed by the Constitution, not violate them.
Time of India
18 hours ago
- Time of India
Nuns accused of human trafficking in Kerala acquitted
1 2 3 Thrissur: Amid the massive hue and cry in different parts of the country over the arrest of two Keralite nuns in Chhattisgarh, two other nuns arrested by the Kerala Railway Police four years ago on charges of human trafficking have been discharged of the alleged offences. The two nuns were arrested when they came to the Thrissur railway station to receive the three girls who were being brought from Jharkhand by Dhanbad-Alappuzha Express on Sept 21, 2021. They were being brought for employment at the convent where the sisters were working. Two relatives of the girls as well as another woman from Jharkhand had accompanied them and all three of them were also arraigned in the case, which was registered based on a report by a Thrissur railway childline helpdesk team member. The two accused nuns are Sister Jolly Jose Kundukulangara alias Sister Jitha (59) from St Joseph's Convent, Ambakkad, and Sister Tessy P L alias Sister Teslin (57) from Fatima Convent, Poomala, both in Thrissur. The remaining three accused -- Amalesh Oraon (29), Niraj Oraon (28) and Shanthi Kumari (25) -- are all from Jharkhand. All of them had worked earlier in Kerala. The girls were brought to be employed as domestic helps in the convents. The nuns as well as Shanthi had secured anticipatory bail from the courts and they were let off from the station after recording the arrest while the other two were remanded in custody for some days. The girls were sent to Snehitha Help Desk and later back to their homes. First additional sessions judge of Thrissur, K Kamanees, discharged all the accused persons of the charges as the prosecution was "not at all successful in proving a prima facie case against them''. "There is absolutely no recital that the girls had been transported using any threats. There is no case of committing any abduction or playing fraud/deception or by abuse or by power. The main allegation is that there has been some form of coercion and that of inducements. It must be seen that none of the witnesses including the survivors state so. The survivors state that no amount has been received. There is not even an averment to the effect that any attempt similar to slavery or servitude has been committed," the judge said in his order.
The Hindu
20 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Catholic rites hold united protest against arrest of nuns in BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh
The various rites of the Catholic Church in Kerala came together for a joint protest on Wednesday against the arrest of two Keralite nuns at Durg in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Chhattisgarh last Friday on charges of forced conversion and human trafficking, allegations which various political parties and civil society have termed baseless. Church leaders and laity members from the Syro-Malankara, Syro-Malabar, and Latin rites took part in the silent march with their mouths gagged to Raj Bhavan, in a reflection of the groundswell of anger and concern over the arrests. Addressing the protest, Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, president of the Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council, said those showing friendly gestures towards the Christian community should show the sincerity to 'walk the talk,' in what was interpreted as a thinly-veiled message to the BJP. 'When such incidents happen, those in power should display the will power to address it immediately. That is when minority communities like ours feel safe in the country. The State BJP president himself has said that the allegations against the nuns are false. Why are his words not being believed? Not only should the nuns be released, but action also should be taken against those who put them in jail so that such incidents are not repeated,' he said. Countering the allegations of forced conversions against the Christian community, he said Christians still constitute only less than 2.5% of India's population, which would not have been the situation if the community had been converting people for the past 2,000 years as alleged. 'The minority Christian community in this country is only demanding the rulers to protect the right for anyone to believe and propagate any religion of their choice. Our protest is not a challenge against the government or a particular party. Some people are claiming that such protests are happening only in Kerala. As a State which remains in the forefront in literacy and where missionaries have brought education to the masses, all the right-thinking people of Kerala are questioning this injustice,' said the Cardinal. He said that more than the denial of bail to the nuns, the angry shouts of the mob that gathered outside the court against them pained him. 'Is this a secular democracy? Is this the age-old Indian culture which has traditionally respected those who wore robes and went out to serve the community,' he asked. The State has over the past four days witnessed bipartisan protests over the arrest of sisters Preeta Mary and Vandana Francis of the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate (ASMI) order.
