A 29-year-old nun was forcibly removed from a train and detained for 18 hours at a police station in Odisha after suspected Bajrang Dal activists accused her of human trafficking and illegal religious conversions, charges that investigators later proved false.
Sister Rachana Nayak of the Holy Family Convent in Bhopal was traveling with six young companions when approximately 30 people surrounded their group at Khurda Junction, near Bhubaneswar, late Saturday night.
The group, consisting of two men and four women, had boarded the Rajya Rani Express from Berhampur on Saturday evening, bound for Jharsuguda. From there, they planned to continue to Chhattisgarh for skills training and English language courses.
"Some people began heckling them on the train and accused the nun of involvement in religious conversions," said Sujata Jena, one of three women human rights lawyers who secured their release, speaking to media. "As soon as the train reached Khurda Junction around 11pm on Saturday, around 30 people gathered and began abusing the nun and the four girls. They forced the entire group off the train."
The activists accused Sister Nayak of trafficking women and conducting illegal religious conversions. The Railway Protection Force intervened and took all seven individuals to the police station for questioning.
"They pleaded they were all Christians and that the nun had nothing to do with religious conversions, but no one listened to them," Jena said.
The women lawyers learned of the incident Sunday morning and rushed to Khurda to assist the detained group. During the police investigation, authorities discovered that all the companions were lifelong Christians. The four women had been selected through a rigorous career counselling process.
"During the investigation, it came out that all those detained were aged above 18 except for one girl, who was 17. All of them are literate," Jena explained. One of the young men was revealed to be Sister Nayak's younger brother.
Inspector Shankar Rao of the Government Railway Police Khurda confirmed the findings while speaking to the media. "The nun and the four girls know each other. All of them are Christians. The nun hails from Berhampur. She was involved neither in religious conversions nor trafficking. No FIR has been registered by the nun against the hecklers."
The group was released Sunday evening without charges. Police treated them respectfully throughout the ordeal, according to the lawyers. A GRP team escorted Sister Nayak to Bhubaneswar, while the parents of the young women arrived at the station to take them back to their villages. After the traumatic experience, the families refused to allow their daughters to continue to Chhattisgarh for training.
The incident has deepened fears among minorities in Odisha. Catholic Church authorities have now advised members traveling with girls from the community to carry written parental consent, village pradhan approval, and baptism certificates proving their Christian identity. They also recommend carrying school admission letters to demonstrate educational purposes for travel.
The detention occurred one year after the BJP assumed power in Odisha and weeks after the state released one of the killers of missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons, who were burned alive in 1999 by a mob led by a Bajrang Dal activist.
Religious conversions remain legal in India unless conducted through inducement, fraud, or force. Sister Nayak belongs to the Holy Family order, a local congregation founded in Kerala.
The incident represents the latest in a series of anti-Christian episodes troubling church leaders in Odisha, following the brutal assault of two priests at a boys' hostel in Charwatiya last month.
