Assaulted By 'Rescuers': Girl Accompanied By Kerala Nuns Who Were Arrested

Two nuns from Kerala along with Sukaman Mandavi were arrested in Chhattisgarh on accusations of forcibly converting three women and trafficking them.

Anurag Dwary, NDTV, Aug 01, 2025: As protests continue against the arrest of two Kerala nuns on charges of alleged forceful conversion and trafficking, one of the three rescued girls has claimed that she was travelling with them on her own will and was assaulted by Bajrang Dal members.

On July 25, nuns Preeti Mary and Vandana Francis, along with Sukaman Mandavi, were arrested by the Government Railway Police (GRP) at the Durg Railway Station in Chhattisgarh following a complaint by a local Bajrang Dal functionary, who accused them of forcibly converting three girls from the state's tribal-dominated Narayanpur district and trafficking them.

Speaking to NDTV, one of the girls, who has studied till Class 10, said she was travelling to Agra on her own will to work as a cook for a monthly salary of Rs 10,000. "We three (girls) were travelling together. Sukhman bhaiya was dropping us to Durg because we didn't know the way. The ticket collector fined us for not booking tickets. As we were leaving, Bajrang Dal members came and started claiming that we were being taken forcibly," she said.

She recounted that the Bajrang Dal workers assaulted Sukhman, her, and coerced her into making a false statement against the accused. The girl claimed that Jyoti Sharma, a woman associated with a Hindutva outfit, told her she must say she was being taken against her will, or else her brother would be beaten. "They slapped me twice and abused us," she claimed.

The girl added that she has been following Christianity for 5–6 years and denied all allegations of trafficking or forced conversion. "My mother had a respiratory illness. We took her to faraway places for treatment but she didn't get better. When we took her to Jesus Christ, she was cured in a single day. All the allegations of human trafficking are false. We will give our statement and tell the truth," she said.

Urging that the nuns and Sukhman be freed, the girl said her parents willingly sent her for the job to ensure that she becomes financially independent. Her mother echoed this and said that she was not informed about her daughter being caught at the railway station.

Sharma claimed that she spoke to the girls, who told her they were being taken forcibly. "The boy who was caught has abandoned girls three times before. This clearly shows that religious conversion and human trafficking are happening in our Chhattisgarh. The girls themselves have told me this, and I have a recording of what they said," she added.