Hindu extremists, who falsely denounced two nuns and Christian men who trafficked three women in India, and accompanied by threats and assault, forced three tribe Christian women to sign statements against their peers.
A member of Hindu nationalist Bajran Dal told three women at Dag Railway Police Station in Chhattisgarh Central on July 25, “If we don’t say it, we’ll rape you,” 19-year-old Suhmatimandavi is one of the three tribe’s Christian women. “We were very scared. We were repeatedly slapped until the people of Bajran Dal agreed to sign the statements they directed to the Dag police.”
The nuns along with Suhman Mandabi, a tribal Christian who accompanied the three women, were charged with human trafficking under the Bharatiyanyayasanhita section and forced forced conversion under the Chhattisgarh Religion Freedom Act.
Nuns and Sukhman Mandavi, who were sent to Darg Prison, were released on bail on August 2nd.
Three young tribal women in Narayanpur district – Suhmatimandavi and 19-year-old Larita Usendi, together with 21-year-old Kamur Swali Pradhan from Orcha Village, were traveling to start a new job at the Catholic Hospital in Agra, Uttar Pradesh. They had agreed to work in the hospital kitchen for two years.
On July 24th, the woman traveled with Suhman Mandabi, a Christian from the community’s tribe. The next morning, on July 25th, they met two nuns, Prietory Mary and Vandana Francis, at the Darg station.
Sanau Mandavi, a Christian leader in Narayanpur, said the family of three tribal women agreed to send them and initially requested that Sukhman Mandavi’s sister be accompanied by him.
“However, suddenly her daughter got sick, so she cancelled the plan and sent her brothers in return to send the girl out safely,” Sanau Mandabi said.
Prusin Kakulam, a Christian who has been providing shelter to three tribal women in Narayanpur since his return, said he is afraid to return to their respective villages due to threats to their lives.
“The Abzimah region where they came from is known for its tribe population and the presence of Maoism,” said Kakulam, a local leader of the Communist Party of India. “This is what it looks like in the village. If you can’t shape the victim, instead, you’ll put pressure on your family and get what you want.”
abuse
The three women and Sukhman Mandavi left Narayanpur by bus on July 24th at 9:45pm and arrived in Darg at 4:30am on July 25th.
After a tribal woman used the station’s retirement room, a female ticket collector (TC) told her that she had to buy tickets to use the facility. They notified Suhman Mandabi who had gone straight away and bought the ticket.
“The TC pointed out that each requires a separate ticket and therefore they must pay a fine,” Usendi said.
The TC took the tribal woman to the office where she paid a fine of 250 Indian rupees (USD 2.85).
“Someone in the retired room called Bajran Dal people and reported that ‘three girls were being trafficked’,” said Hindu nationalist members who arrived soon, Usendi said.
The Catholic nuns joined the tribal women around 9am and began boarding the train when a crowd of Bajran Dal members arrived and caused a huge stir, Usendi said. Videos from the railway station platform show off aggressive mobs screaming and protesting in front of police.
Another 40-second video shows a group of Bajrandha members dealing with Suhman Mandhabi repeatedly dragging them with their ears and pounding him hard.
“The hearing of Sukhman Bhaiya was damaged from repeated be hits,” Usendi said that “Bhaiya” is a term of respect for older men.
Government Railway Police (GRP) took two nuns, three tribal women, Suhman Mandabi, inside the station. Soon, Hindu nationalist Durgavahini Matrushakti’s Jyoti Sharma – often considered the female counterpart of Bajran Dal – arrived and began to intimidate them, they said.
In one of the videos recorded inside the police station, Sharma is seen sprinting through Christian bags, interrogating all the papers and IDs they carry. She pulls the Bible from one of her bags and throws it on the police table.
In X’s post, in the video footage, Sharma tells one of the Nuns, “If you don’t want to talk, I’ll crush my face.”
Sharma accused the nuns of trafficking tribal women. She asked each woman separately about their faith, and she clearly stated that they follow the Christian faith – the two have said for the past five to six years.
“Jyoti Sharma took three people into a room with over 15 Bajrang Dal men,” Pradhan said. “She asked the police if the room had CCTV cameras on it. When they said nothing, she didn’t allow officers to be in the room and ordered them to stop recording the recorded video. She began asking us if we were fascinated by the nuns.”
When Christians replied that they had not let them go with them, Sharma slapped them, Pradhan said.
“She slapped us repeatedly until she agreed to sign the documents that sent the nun and Suhman Mandabi to prison,” she said.
Three tribe women said that Bajran Dal men threatened to gang rape them if they didn’t do as they were told.
“The men abused us by touching on our private parts,” Suhmati Mandabi said. “The police didn’t even record our statement. Members of Bajran Dal narrated the police. They were asked to sign. We were so scared that we were forced to sign.”
At Darg prison, nuns, who are in their mid-50s and suffering severe medical conditions, were put to sleep on cold beds, according to those who visited them. It is reportedly soon they were suffering from a fever.
The lower court refused bail to them on July 30, saying serious offences such as human trafficking were subject to the National Research Agency Act of 2008 (NIA). The NIA court in Bilaspur granted the two nuns and Sukhman Mandavi on August 2nd by imposing strict conditions such as paying personal debts and surrendering their passports.
protest
The arrests have led to strong protests across India.
Christians organized several protests in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, New Delhi and most states in the northeastern part of the country. In Kerala, the Indian Conference of Catholic Bishops held a silent protest march on Raj Bhavan (the governor’s residence) in Kerala.
In particular, a massive protest rally was also held in Narayanpur, home to three human trafficking “victims.” He said at least 80% of Christians, at least 80% of people from various denominations, have formed a procession of 3 km, demanding the arrest of other members of Bajran Dal, who abused and threatened women with rape and forced them to sign documents.
The rally, hosted by the Communist Party of India, was led by three tribal Christian women who were subjected to abuse, they said. The protesters requested that police complaints be filed against members of Sharma and Bajrang Dal.
Christian support organization Open Door ranks 11th in India on the 2025 global watch list where Christians face the toughest persecution. India came in 31st in 2013, but has steadily fallen in the rankings since Narendra Modi took power as prime minister.
Defenders of religious rights have condemned the increasingly hostile rhetoric of the National Democratic Alliance government led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, who said that since Modi came to power in May 2014, he has encouraged Hindu extremists in India.
