KOCHI: The Syro-Malabar Church on Monday condemned the recent incident in Jhansi in which four nuns, including two postulants, were attacked by Bajrang Dal members while they were travelling by train to their homes at Rourkela in Odisha. The postulants, who had joined the Sacred Hearts Congregation of the Delhi Province recently, were travelling for the first time to their homes. The postulants were accompanied by two nuns of their Order.
Bajrang Dal workers, who had boarded the train from Rishikesh, created a ruckus on the train after seeing the postulants with nuns in their religious habits alleging that they were being taken for religious conversion. Following this, the workers approached the railway police and misinformed the authorities that the nuns were taking the postulants for forcible religious conversion, following which they were taken into custody.
The nuns were rescued after senior police officials intervened. The Church stated that it suspects a premeditated attack, considering that around 150 Bajrang Dal activists had assembled at the railway station at short notice.