Two nuns from Kerala, who were arrested on the charges of human trafficking and forced religious conversion, being welcomed after they were released from Durg Central Jail after a special court granted them bail, in Durg, Chhattisgarh, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Three young tribal women from Narayanpur— the purported victims of the human trafficking case in which two nuns from Kerala and a Narayanpur resident were arrested by Chhattisgarh Police last month— have approached the State Women’s Commission seeking action against Bajrang Dal members for harassing them mentally and physically.
The first substantive hearing was held in Raipur on Wednesday (August 20, 2025) evening, said a lawyer representing the women.
On July 25, Sisters Preethi Merry and Vandana Francis from Kerala, and Sukaman Mandavi from Narayanpur, were arrested by the Government Railway Police (GRP) at Durg station following a complaint filed by a Bajrang Dal member.
The complaint alleged that they were involved in forcibly converting three young tribal women from Narayanpur and trafficking them, an allegation that the tribal women have denied all along. The case led to eruption of major protests by politicians from Kerala.
Advocate Phool Singh Kachlam who represented the three tribal women told The Hindu that the women had been misbehaved by the Bajrang Dal members at the railway station and they approached the Commission after their efforts to get a police complaint registered did not succeed. “The women aged between 19 and 24 years have said that they were accompanying the nuns willingly and had been following Christianity. At the railway station, they were subjected to objectionable comments and were touched inappropriately besides being subjected to casteist slurs,” he said.
In the applications that document the same, the women have pleaded for strong legal action being taken against Jyoti Sharma, Ratan Yadav, and Ravi Nigam (the complainant in the case against the nuns)
Mr. Kachlam added that the Commission had issued notices to both the activists involved and the girls’ families.
“Among those called were Bajrang Dal members Sharma, Yadav, and Nigam. While Sharma appeared briefly in the morning, she left before proceedings began and was absent during the formal hearing. Taking a stern view, the Commission directed that Sharma and all other parties must be present in the next round. A fresh notice will be issued to ensure mandatory attendance,” a statement shared by Mr Kachlam added.
Published – August 21, 2025 07:30 am IST
