(LifeSiteNews) — The arrest of the two Catholic nuns in India caused a national political scandal that opposition leaders are calling a political persecution of a religious minority fostered by the government.
On July 25, two nuns traveled from the city of Agra to Durg railway station in the state of Chhattisgarh. Sr. Preeti Mary and Sr. Vandana Francis of the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate were meeting three young adult women who were reportedly due to work for the sisters in a hospital in Agra. The three young women were accompanied by a young man, who was with them on their journey to Durg.
When the group met at the railway station, they were reportedly surrounded by a mob led by members of the Bajrang Dal, a militant Hindu nationalist group. The mob accused the sisters of taking away the young women to forcibly convert them.
According to UCA News, the young women are members of the Protestant Church of South India and not Hindu. They furthermore had parental consent letters for their employment in Agra. Despite that, the Government Railway Police arrested the two nuns and the young man and charged them with forced religious conversion and human trafficking, while the young women were taken to a shelter. These offenses could lead to 10 years in prison if the sister were convicted.
The nuns and the young man have remained in custody since their arrest.
Strong condemnations from the Church and opposition leaders
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) “strongly condemned” the arrest and “alleged physical assault” of the two nuns in a statement released July 27.
“Expressing deep concern and outrage, the CBCI highlighted that this incident is part of a disturbing pattern of harassment, false accusations, and fabricated cases targeting Religious Women in recent months,” the press release read.
“In the case at Durg, the Religious Women were reportedly arrested despite written consent letters from the parents of the accompanying girls, all of whom are over 18 years of age,” the statement continues. “Reports also suggest that the women were physically assaulted following the arrest.”
“The Catholic Church will raise this issue on all appropriate platforms and will strongly oppose any attempt to malign the dignity of Religious Nuns and Priests, or to curtail religious freedom,” the CBCI stated.
While the support from the Catholic bishops for the religious sisters was to be expected, the incident also led to condemnations by high-ranking opposition politicians who may have viewed the situation as a chance to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for its mistreatment of religious minorities despite the Indian constitution guaranteeing religious freedom.
Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha (India’s upper house of parliament), called the arrest an example of “BJP-RSS mob rule.”
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is the parent body of Modi’s BJP.
Gandhi said the government engaged in “systematic persecution of minorities” and a “dangerous pattern” of targeting individuals because of their faith.
“Religious freedom is a constitutional right,” he stressed.
Chhattisgarh, the state in which the arrest of the nuns took place, is ruled by the BJP. Vushnu Deo Sai, the chief minister of Chhattisgarh, defended the police’s actions, saying that it was “human trafficking under the guise of religious conversion,” and noted that the law would take its course.
The sisters are native to the southern state of Kerala, where their arrest caused significant protests in favor of the religious sisters. MPs from the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) staged a protest in the state parliament building, waving signs that read “Stop Attacks on minorities.”
Pinarayi Vijayan, the chief minister of Kerala, stated that his government “stands in solidarity with the affected individuals and will extend all possible support,” and wrote to Prime Minister Modi to ask for the nuns’ immediate release. Vijayan is a member of the Communist Party of India.
K. C. Venugopal, a parliamentarian from Kerala, also condemned the arrests as “politically motivated” and “unacceptable,” and wrote to Federal Home Minister Amit Shah, demanding actions to be taken against those who instigated the attacks on the nuns.
As the Pillar noted in its report, the support for the nuns from various sides, including communists, may in part be due to the politically charged climate in India. Modi won a third term as prime minister in 2024, but his BJP failed to keep an absolute majority. The opposition, therefore, may see the assaults against Christians as a chance to attack Modi by blaming his Hindu nationalist BJP for the attacks on religious minorities.
Christians only make up 2.3 percent of India’s population of over 1.4 billion people, of which about 80% are Hindus.
