‘Trafficking’ case: Victim alleges coercion by Bajrang Dal, claims nuns are innocent

Narayanpur: A victim of an alleged human trafficking and forceful conversion, in which two nuns have been arrested in Chhattisgarh, has alleged she was coerced and assaulted by Bajrang Dal activists to give a false statement, a charge denied by the right-wing outfit.

The police also did not record her statement properly, 21-year-old Kamleshwari Pradhan claimed, adding her family has been following Christianity for the last four-five years.

The tribal woman, whose parents are farmers, also claimed the two nuns and another person arrested in the case were innocent and said they should be released from jail.

However, Bajrang Dal Durg unit convener Ravi Nigam denied all the allegations.

“We have neither threatened nor beaten anyone. There are CCTV cameras installed at the railway station, the truth will come out through them,” he said.

Nuns Preethi Mary and Vandana Francis, both from Kerala, along with Sukhman Mandavi were arrested by the Government Railway Police (GRP) at Durg railway station in the state on July 25 following a complaint by a local Bajrang Dal functionary, who accused them of forcibly converting three women from the tribal-dominated Narayanpur district and trafficking them.

Talking to PTI at her village Kukrajhor in Abujhmad area of Narayanpur, Pradhan claimed she was not being trafficked as she was going along with them at her own will and with her parents’ consent.

“I was going to Agra with the nuns with the consent of my parents. From there, we were about to go to Bhopal where we were to be given work at a Christian hospital. We were promised Rs 10,000 salary per month along with food, clothes and accommodation,” she said.

Pradhan recounted that she, Mandavi and two other women from Orchha area of the district reached Durg station early morning on July 25.

“The nuns, whom I had never met before, arrived a few hours later there. Meanwhile, we were confronted by a person. Later, other persons from Bajrang Dal joined him. They started threatening, abusing and assaulting us,” she said.

“The railway police then arrived and we were taken to the (GRP) police station where a woman, Jyoti Sharma, who identified herself as right-wing activist, slapped me and threatened me to change my statement. She told me to say I was taken by force. She said if I didn’t, my brother would be jailed and beaten up,” Pradhan alleged.

She also claimed the police did not take her “actual statement” and were “writing things which she never said”.