Two nuns from Kerala and a man were arrested at the Durg railway station in Chhattisgarh on Saturday for alleged human trafficking and religious conversion, The News Minute reported.

The nuns – Preeti Mary and Vandana Francis – are members of the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate, a congregation under the Syro-Malabar Church in Alappuzha district’s Cherthala town and were working at a hospital in Agra, Mathrubhumi reported.

The two nuns and the man, identified as Sukhman Mandavi, were accompanying three women from Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district.

Sebastian Poomattam, vicar general of the Raipur Archdiocese, told The News Minute that the nuns were taking the women to Agra where they had been offered jobs of kitchen helpers at a convent.

“They had the consent letters from their parents and were all above 18 years of age,” he added.

While at the railway station, a ticket examiner questioned the group on the platform.

“The girls and one man entered the platform where the nuns were waiting,” The News Minute quoted Poomattam as saying. “The examiner asked about their tickets, and they said the nuns had them.”

The vicar general claimed that the examiner informed members of the Hindutva group Bajrang Dal about the situation and that the outfit’s members “arrived in large numbers within minutes”.

The police detained the nuns, the man and the three women.

The Bajrang Dal vigilantes protested at the police station and demanded the registration of a first information report against the nuns, The News Minute reported.

The nuns and Mandavi were remanded to judicial custody till August 8. They were charged under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to human trafficking and sections of Chhattisgarh Religious Freedom Act.

The three women were taken to a government-run shelter home.

Unidentified police officers told the Hindustan Times that the nuns were allegedly taking the women to Agra with the promise of “good facilities and a monthly salary of Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000”.

The police had reached the railway station based on a tip-off from members of the Bajrang Dal, the officers were quoted as having said.

“When questioned, the women said that initially they were told they would be offered jobs within Chhattisgarh, but when they reached Durg, they were told that the nuns had come to take them to Agra,” the newspaper quoted the officers as saying.

Commenting on the incident, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India alleged that a “false” case had been filed against the nuns under the influence of Hindutva groups, Onmanorama reported.

The bishops’ conference sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the matter.

Kerala CM seeks PM’s intervention

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday also sought Modi’s intervention in ensuring justice to the two nuns, PTI reported.

In a letter to the prime minister, the chief minister said that Mary and Francis were arrested when they had gone to receive women who were coming to work in their convent.

Family members of the two nuns have claimed that they had not been able to communicate with them after they were taken into custody, he added.

Vijayan requested the prime minister to intervene in the matter and ensure transparent and fair proceedings, PTI reported.

Alappuzha MP KC Venugopal said on Sunday that attacks on minorities had seen “a rampant increase under BJP-ruled states, be it Chhattisgarh, Odisha or MP [Madhya Pradesh]”.

The Congress leader said that he had written to the Union home ministry and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai demanding strict punishment against the culprits and the urgent need to uphold the Constitution “so that fundamental rights of minorities are not threatened under their rule”.

“The latest attacks by Bajrang Dal goons on 2 Catholic nuns in Durg, Chhattisgarh point to a tacit support for such hate crimes from the ruling establishment,” Venugopal said on social media.

In his letter to the home ministry and the Chhattisgarh chief minister, Venugopal said that it was “deeply disturbing that self proclaimed vigilantes can instigate communal tension and make baseless accusations of conversion and trafficking without any legal foundation”.

He added: “Despite clear documentation and parental consent, the authorities have chosen to keep the nuns and the man in custody, reportedly under political pressure.”

Venugopal described the arrests as “a clear miscarriage of justice and an attack on the rights of minority communities”.