Hindu fundamentalists attack nun and young people on a train: “Forced conversions”

The nun was accompanying some girls to Chhatisgarh for study purposes in preparation for religious life. They were attacked by a group of Bajrang Dal militants despite all being Christians since birth. Stopped by the railway police, they were freed thanks to the intervention of three lawyers. Mgr Sual Singh tells AsiaNews: ‘Freedom of movement guaranteed by the constitution has been violated.’

Bhubaneswar (AsiaNews) - Forced off a train on false charges of religious conversion and human trafficking in India's Hindu fundamentalist region. This is what happened in Orissa to a young nun from a religious congregation who was travelling with four candidates and two other young people on the Rajya Rani Express.

Late in the evening of 31 May, she was stopped by a group of Bajrang Dal militants at Khorda Road station in the district of Jatni. Sr. Rachana Nayak, 29, a nun from the Bhopal convent of the Congregation of the Holy Family, was falsely accused of religious conversion by the radical Hindu group.

Together with the group of young people - all Christians since birth - they were detained overnight by the Railway Protection Force (RPF), an armed police force under the Indian Ministry of Railways. They were later released thanks to the intervention of several human rights lawyers.

‘Some young women are victims of human trafficking through promises of education,’ the Hindu radicals claimed. They are taken by force from the Berhampur railway station. Our team saw them crying and found them in carriages S-4 and S-5 of the Raja Rani train. This is religious conversion through the lure of money, temptations, wealth and false promises. They teach English and traffic them to foreign countries."

‘They boarded the train in Berhampur on Saturday evening. One of the young people was the nun's younger brother,’ lawyer Sujata Jena, who was part of the team of women lawyers who came to their defence, told AsiaNews.

"They were headed to Jharsuguda, from where they intended to continue on to Chhattisgarh, where the girls would receive training in various skills and spoken English. Some people started harassing them on the train and accused the nun of being involved in religious conversions. They justified themselves by saying that they were all Christians and that the nun had nothing to do with religious conversions, but no one listened to them."

The lawyers learned of the matter on Sunday morning and rushed to Khorda. ‘During the investigation, it emerged that all those arrested were over 18, except for one girl who was 17. They are all literate,’ Jena said, adding that the women's parents arrived at the police station and took them back to their villages, reluctant to let them continue on to Chhattisgarh. The two young men also returned home.

The bishop of Sambalpur, Msgr. Niranjan Sual Singh, commented on the incident to AsiaNews: ‘This news of young candidates being questioned by right-wing activists on the train and forced to get off is disturbing and alarming... We are law-abiding citizens, these things should not happen. The constitution guarantees us freedom of movement. This incident has hurt us deeply.’

‘It is sad that candidates and nuns are being harassed in this way in free India and falsely accused of religious conversion,’ commented Pradeep Kumar Behera, a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar.

‘I thank the three lawyers Clara D'Souza, Sujata Jena and Sevanti Soreng who personally visited the detainees and worked tirelessly and wisely for their safety,’ adds Aruna Jose, provincial superior in Delhi of the Congregation of the Holy Family. ‘Rachana and the young girls have shown deep faith and exceptional courage in this moment of illegal detention by religious radicals.’

Founded in 1914, the Congregation of the Holy Family is an indigenous women's religious institute whose charism includes the education of women, with a focus on promoting Christian values within families. It was founded by Saint Mariam Thresia Chiramel and co-founder Fr Joseph Vithayathil, also venerable. It is based in Thrissur, Kerala, and has 11 provinces in India.

(with the collaboration of Purushottam Nayak)