Protests erupt in India after nuns arrested on human trafficking allegations

Bangalore, India, Jul 30, 2025 / 14:09 pm (CNA).

Protests are spreading in India over the arrest of two nuns on conversion and human trafficking charges in Chattisgarh state in central India. 

The ongoing demonstrations that began with the July 25 arrests intensified after the release of the nuns was delayed by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government opposing bail for the religious, who have been in jail for nearly a week.

“What kind of justice is this?” Cardinal Baselios mar Cleemis, the archbishop of the Syro Malankara Church and former president of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, said on July 30.

The prelate spoke at the end of a protest march to the Kerala Legislative Assembly at Thiruvananthapuram, demanding the “immediate release” of the nuns, who are from the Christian heartland of Kerala.

On July 27, the Indian Catholic bishops in a press statement expressed “outrage and deep concern over the recent arrest” of the nuns at the Durg railway station in Chattisgarh. The religious were arrested when they reached the station to receive three young women to their convents.

Sister Preetha Mary and Sister Vandana Francis belong to the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate congregation. The police charged them with “conversion and human trafficking,” the bishops said. 

The nuns were “subjected to harassment, false accusations, and fabricated cases. They were physically assaulted and the arrest took place despite written consent letters issued by the parents of each woman above 18 years of age,” the bishops said.

“Anti-national elements” including “Hindu fundamentalist outfits” are “tracking the movements of Catholic nuns,” they alleged.

“Such incidents not only threaten the modesty of women but also put their lives in grave danger. These repeated unwarranted actions are a grave violation of the Constitution and cannot be tolerated,” the bishops said.

“It is absolutely shocking and sad that the two religious sisters have been illegally detained under false charges of human trafficking and forced conversion,” Sister M. Nirmalini, the president of the women’s wing of the Conference of Religious India, told CNA on July 30. 

“Shockingly, the charges have been made without ascertaining or verifying facts,” said the nun, who belongs to the Apostolic Carmel Congregation.

“An entire anti-minority brigade is whipping up a frenzy to create a false narrative and polarize the people against the Christians and particularly the tribals,” Nirmalini said. “This must stop immediately and those responsible and the local police must be booked by the higher authorities.”

“Some congregations have asked members to avoid traditional habits in public places to avoid harassment,” Nirmalini said.

“Even the Kerala BJP president has [criticized] the arrest of the nuns. Yet, they continue to be jailed on trumped-up charges,” said Cleemis, who along with a dozen bishops wore black ribbons on their faces while hundreds of nuns, priests, and even non-Catholics joined the recent protest in the Kerala capital.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the president of the BJP in Kerala, told reporters in New Delhi: “Our top priority is to protect the nuns and ensure justice.”

“The persecution of the nuns by imprisoning them is a shame for the country,” said John Brittas, a Catholic member in the upper house of the Indian Parliament, during the parliamentary debate on July 30.

Spirited protests have continued in several other cities in Kerala and elsewhere, including Bangalore, as the nuns continue to languish in jail.

“You cannot hold the Indian Constitution hostage. Jailing nuns for offering employment to young Christian women with their parents’ consent is a national shame,” Archbishop Andrews Thazhath of Thrissur said at a protest on July 29.

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/265657/protests-erupt-in-india-after-nuns-arrested-on-human-trafficking-allegations