'Bajrang Dal threatened to rape!', say girls with arrested Kerala nuns

Raipur: The girls who were with the Kerala nuns who were arrested in Chhattisgarh on charges of forced conversion and released on bail have surfaced with serious allegations against Hindutva right-wing extremist group Bajrang Dal and the state police.

The girls said that the nuns were innocent and repeated that there was no incident of conversion. They said that they were locked in a room and beaten up on the command of Bajrang Dal leader Jyoti Sharma, which happened in the presence of the police. The girls also alleged that those who accompanied Jyoti Sharma threatened to rape them.

The girls asserted that they went with the nuns on their own free will and with the consent of their parents as employees, as cooks. The girls, who explained in tears, said that there was no conversion nor human trafficking and demanded that Hindutva extremist leader Jyoti Sharma should be arrested and sent to jail for all the torture she imposed on the girls.

The girls who were with the nuns said that they would file an online complaint at Durga Police Station against individuals, including Bajrang Dal leader Jyoti Sharma, after their complaint was filed at Narayanpur Police Station yesterday and was not rejected.

Meanwhile, the nuns, who were released on bail, were taken to a monastery in Delhi under heavy security.

Sister Vandana Francis, Sister Preeti, and Sukhman Mandavi were granted bail on Saturday, and all three had to furnish a bond of Rs 50,000 each and surrender their passports to the court. The NIA court has also directed them not to leave India.