Chhattisgarh: Trafficking-conversion case 'victims' allege harassment inside Durg GRP station

Raipur, Aug 22 (PTI) Three alleged victims in the human trafficking and forced religious conversion case that led to the arrest of two Kerala nuns have approached the Chhattisgarh women's commission, claiming harassment and verbal abuse at the Durg GRP station during the episode last month.

Talking to PTI, Chhattisgarh State Women's Commission chairperson Kiranmayee Nayak said that the matter was taken up for hearing on August 20, during which complainants were present, while the respondents against whom allegations have been levelled did not appear.

She said that the commission has written to the superintendents of police of Durg district and the Government Railway Police (GRP) to ensure the presence of the respondents at the next hearing, and has also sought CCTV footage related to the incident.

Nayak said the panel has also issued notices to two police station in-charges, including the GRP police station, seeking their reply.

The next hearing has been scheduled for September 2, she said.

The GRP arrested Catholic nuns Preethi Mary (55) and Vandana Francis (53), along with a tribal man, Sukhman Mandavi, at Durg railway station on July 25, following a local Bajrang Dal functionary's complaint that they were forcibly converting three women from the tribal-dominated Narayanpur district and trafficking them.

The arrest of the nuns sparked off a political slugfest with the Congress and CPI(M) criticising the police action, and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai accusing them of politicising the issue. The Bilaspur district court granted them bail on August 2.

Later, one of the alleged victims had claimed that Bajrang Dal activists had assaulted her and coerced her to give a false statement, a charge denied by the right-wing outfit.

In their complaint to the women's commission, Sukhmati Mandavi, Lalita Usendi and Kamleshwari Pradhan, all aged between 19 to 21 years, claimed that they were at Durg railway station on July 25 to travel to Agra in Uttar Pradesh for jobs, when one Jyoti Sharma, Ravi Nigam, Ratan Yadav along with some anti-social elements intercepted them and took them to the GRP station.

The complainants' lawyer, Phool Singh Kachalam, said the women were molested and given rape threats at the GRP station, and casteist slurs were also hurled at them.

The trio had approached the Narayanpur police seeking an FIR against Bajrang Dal activists for allegedly assaulting them and forcing them to give false statements against the nuns, but were directed to the Durg police as the incident occurred in their jurisdiction.

They had also approached the special police station for the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe, the lawyer said.

Kachlam said when their attempt to file an FIR failed, the trio approached the state women's commission in Raipur.

Meanwhile, Jyoti Sharma, who identifies herself as a Bajrang Dal activist, denied the allegations and said that she has not received any letter to appear before the state women's commission.

Sharma stated that while she was present in the GRP station along with other activists on the day of the incident, no one had misbehaved with the three women. PTI TKP ARU