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Kerala BJP chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar said two nuns from Kerala were arrested in Chhattisgarh due to a misunderstanding and will get bail soon.
Catholic nuns Preethi Merry and Vandana Francis, both from Kerala, along with Sukaman Mandavi, were arrested on July 25 from the Durg railway station.
Kerala BJP chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday said the two nuns from Kerala have been arrested in Chhattisgarh due to a “misunderstanding” and added that they will get bail soon.
Chandrasekhar made the statement after meeting with Archbishop of Trichur Andrews Thazhath, the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), to brief him that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have assured the nuns would be released on bail.
The BJP state president said that both PM Modi and Shah assured him that the Chhattisgarh government will not oppose the bail pleas of the nuns.
“It is a judicial process. Let it happen. I only want to say that don’t politicise the issue. We are not seeing it as politics. We are only trying to help the people. This was a misunderstanding,” he contended.
The BJP is under intense pressure in Kerala, a state where it is planning to expand its footprint, as two political factions– Congress-led United Democratic Front and Left Democratic Front– have been protesting in the state since Catholic nuns were arrested on July 25 from the Durg railway station in the BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh for alleged human trafficking and forced religious conversion.
‘Grave Injustice’: Tharoor On Nuns’ Arrest
Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, said the arrest of nuns is a “grave injustice” and said they have not done anything against the law. “They were just taking some tribal girls to the city for employment. Seeing this, members of the Bajrang Dal raised a false alarm, and the police came and arrested the nuns. This is not right. When everyone is raising objections to it, they are still in jail for the last week… BJP’s Kerala unit is saying they will travel to Chhattisgarh to get them bail. Nothing has happened so far,” he said.
However, Chattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai defended the police action and said the “law is doing its job” when asked about the arrest of two Catholic nuns for alleged human trafficking and forced religious conversion in the state.
CPI-M Delegation To Meet Nuns
Meanwhile, a delegation of CPI-M, which leads the ruling LDF alliance in Kerala, will go to Chhattisgarh to meet the nuns.
“We are going to Chhattisgarh to meet the nuns and to facilitate the ongoing bail process. We hope that the nuns can be released on bail because of the assurance given by the Home Minister, and the process is underway,” said CPI-M MP Dr. John Brittas.
Why Were Kerala Nuns Arrested?
Catholic nuns Preethi Merry and Vandana Francis, both from Kerala, along with Sukaman Mandavi, were arrested on July 25 from the Durg railway station. The arrests were made following a complaint by a local Bajrang Dal functionary, who accused them of proselytising and trafficking three girls from Narayanpur in Chhattisgarh.
Saurabh Verma covers general, national and international day-to-day news for News18.com as a Senior Sub-editor. He keenly observes politics. You can follow him on Twitter –twitter.com/saurabhkverma19
Saurabh Verma covers general, national and international day-to-day news for News18.com as a Senior Sub-editor. He keenly observes politics. You can follow him on Twitter –twitter.com/saurabhkverma19
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