RAIPUR: Three persons, including two Catholic nuns who had reportedly come from Agra, were arrested by the Government Railway Police (GRP) in Durg on Friday for alleged human trafficking amid suspicion of coerced religious conversion. They were remanded to 14-day judicial custody, a police officer said.The trio were booked under BNS Section 143 (trafficking of persons).All three were caught accompanying three young women aged between 18 and 20 years, hailing from Narayanpur district in south Bastar, after Bajrang Dal activists spotted them at Durg railway station. The group was allegedly preparing to travel to Agra for training and subsequent employment opportunities.Bajrang Dal members staged demonstrations at the Durg GRP police station demanding strict action against those allegedly involved in human trafficking and forced religious conversion.“The nuns had come to Durg merely a day before without any valid reason. They were about to board a train along with the rescued girls to Agra when we spotted them,” said Ravi Nigam, a Bajrang Dal leader.Members of the Christian community also gathered at the GRP Durg station and were seen defending the nuns.The two nuns — Preeti Marry and Vandana Francis — who had come from Agra, along with Sukhman Mandavi from Narayanpur, were produced before a local court in Durg and remanded to 14-day judicial custody.The rescued girls have been sent to the Sakhi One Stop Centre in Durg.Meanwhile, Congress MP K C Venugopal has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai seeking stringent action against the perpetrators. He also urged the government to uphold constitutional rights and religious freedom in the state.The Congress leader alleged that BJP-ruled states are witnessing a rampant rise in attacks on minorities. “The latest attacks by Bajrang Dal goons on two Catholic nuns in Durg, Chhattisgarh, point to a tacit support for such hate crimes from the ruling establishment,” Venugopal wrote on X.
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