Hyderabad, July 28 -- Two Kerala Catholic nuns, Sister Vandana Francis and Sister Preethi, were arrested by the police in Chhattisgarh on July 26 at Durg railway station on charges of human trafficking and forced religious conversion, both charges vehemently denounced as false by Church organisations and opposition parties.

The nuns, belonging to the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate (ASMI) in the Syro-Malabar Church, were taking three young women from Agra to Chhattisgarh for domestic work.

The women, aged between 19 and 22 years, were reportedly travelling with the nuns to start domestic work. A Train Ticket Examiner (TTE) queried the group for lacking platform tickets and, upon being told that the women were with the nuns, he alleged...