A special NIA court in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, has granted conditional bail to the two Catholic nuns from Kerala and a tribal man who were arrested on charges of human trafficking and forced religious conversion, July 25, 2025. The bail was granted (August 2) nine days after their arrest, following a complaint by a local Bajrang Dal functionary at Durg railway station.
The court’s decision, which required the accused to submit a bond of Rs. 50,000 each and surrender their passports, was met with relief by their supporters. However, the legal and political repercussions of the incident are far from over.

The bail was granted after the defense argued that the case was “absolutely baseless.” The court’s order noted that there was no prior criminal record against the accused and that the investigation was in a preliminary stage with no direct evidence of trafficking or forced conversion.
Crucially, the parents of the women, who were alleged to be the victims, submitted statements confirming that their daughters were adults, had been practicing Christianity for several years, and had left for Agra willingly with their consent for job opportunities. The court found that the allegations were based on “mere apprehension and suspicion.”

In a significant turn of events, the three women who were allegedly being trafficked have now filed a written complaint against Bajrang Dal members and a woman named Jyoti Sharma. The women accuse the group of assault, verbal abuse, and forcing them to give false statements to the police.
One of the women, Kamleshwari Pradhan, alleged that Jyoti Sharma slapped and threatened her, telling her to say she was being taken by force. She claimed that Sharma threatened to jail her brother if she didn’t comply. Videos have also surfaced on social media showing Sharma threatening the group inside the police station. While the police have acknowledged receipt of this complaint, no FIR has been registered against Jyoti Sharma or the other Bajrang Dal members yet.

Indian Jesuit Father Richard D’Souza, the new director of the Vatican Observatory, says he will continue the tradition of Vatican astronomers who demonstrated how science and faith can co-exist. The 47-year-old Jesuit from western Goa state said he stands “on the shoulders of giants who have served before,” and the job is to lead the Observatory “in promoting dialogue between faith and science.” He told on Aug. 4 that the Observatory “is inter-nationally recognized because of the quality of our research and the renowned month-long biennial summer schools that we organi-ze.” Pope Leo XIV appointed D’Souza on July 31 to succeed Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, who ends his 10-year term as the director of the Observatory on Sept. 19.
D’Souza, who joined the Observatory in 2016, wants to ensure that the Observatory “continues to serve the Pope and the Universal Church, promoting the dialogue between faith and science, through solid scientific research.” He said the Observa-tory, one of the world’s oldest as-tronomical institutions, continues to be independent and does not accept funding from international agencies or global science foundations of major powers.
The Vatican Observatory was engaged in several research projects aimed at advancing discoveries in astronomy and space science. In June this year, a special committee of the International Astronomical Union named an asteroid after D’Souza in honour of his research on the merger histories of galaxies. This asteroid was discovered by K. Cernis and Jesuit Father R. P. Boyle with the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope on Mount Graham in 2012. Founded in 1891 by Pope Leo XIII, the Observatory aims to conduct research encompassing stars, meteorites, galaxies, cosmology, and the early universe, while fostering dialogue among science, theology, and the Church’s intellectual tradition.

Congress leader and Member of Parliament, Hibi Eden, has submitted a notice for an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha, calling for a discussion on the recent alleged attack on two Catholic priests, a catechist, and two nuns by approximately 70 Bajrang Dal members in Jaleswar, Odisha. In a letter addressed to the Secretary General of the Lok Sabha, Eden wrote, “I hereby give notice of my intention to ask for leave to move a motion for the adjournment of the business of the House… To discuss the recent brazen attack on two Catholic priests, a catechist, and two nuns by around 70 Bajrang Dal members in Jaleswar, Odisha.” Eden alleged that the attackers falsely accused the church members of religious conversion and assaulted them. He termed the incident as “communal abuse” and stated, “The attackers falsely accused them of religious conversions and subjected them to physical assault and communal abuse. Given the gravity of the incident and its implications for communal harmony, I request the House to adjourn its business to discuss this matter.”
In his letter, Eden outlined the key points for discussion: condemnation of the violent attack, assurance of justice for the victims, measures to ensure the safety and security of minority communities and religious personnel, and action against the perpetrators to ensure accountability. Separately, Congress MP Manickam Tagore submitted a notice for an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha, demanding an urgent discussion on the arrests of individuals who were allegedly detained at Lodhi Colony Police Station, South District of New Delhi, for speaking in Bengali.

In a disturbing and brazen attack, around 70 Bajrang Dal members ambushed and assaulted two Catholic priests, a catechist, and two nuns near Gangadhar village ( mission station) under Jaleswar Parish, falsely accusing them of religious conversions. The shocking incident occurred on August 6, when Fr. Lijo Nirappel, Parish Priest of Jaleswar, and Fr. V. Jojo of Joda Parish in the Diocese of Balasore, visited Gangadhar mission station for a requiem Mass marking the second death anniversary of two local Catholic men. Accompanied by two nuns and a catechist, the group arrived at the village around 5 p.m. The Mass and fellowship meal began after 6:00 p.m., once villagers returned from their fields during the ongoing planting season.
But as they were leaving the village later that evening around 9 p.m., their peaceful pastoral visit turned into a nightmare. “Hardly half a kilometre away from the village, in a narrow forested stretch of road, a mob of about 70 Bajrang Dal men lay in wait,” Fr. Lijo told. “They first targeted our catechist who was on a motorcycle. They beat him mercilessly, dismantled his bike, drained the fuel, and threw it aside.” The attackers then turned on the priests’ vehicle, stopping it by force and hurling communal abuses. “They physically attacked us—pushing, pulling, and beating us badly. They punched us, snatched our mobile phones, and kept shouting that we were trying to make them Americans—converting them by force,” Fr. Lijo recounted, “they screamed: ‘Those BJD days are over, now it’s BJP’s rule—you cannot make Christians anymore.’”
Despite women from the village pleading with the mob and clarifying that the priests and nuns were invited for a prayer service, the attackers continued their assault. The priests alleged that the group hurled communal slurs and falsely accused them of conversions in front of self-invited media personnel who had accompanied the Bajrang Dal members. “It was a planned ambush,” said Fr. Lijo. “They brought their own media to fabricate a narrative.” About 45 minutes into the ordeal, a team of police officers—including a female constable and two male officers—arrived on the scene. However, even in the presence of the police, the mob continued their tirade. Fr. Lijo informed the police that their mobile phones had been forcibly taken by the assailants, but no one in the mob admitted to having them or returned them. The incident has sent shockwaves through the local Christian community and raised serious concerns over rising religious intolerance and mob violence in Odisha.

The arrest and jailing of two Catholic nuns on false charges of human trafficking and conversion has rocked the Indian parliament, with opposition members seeking their immediate release. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha (upper house), on July 28 called the arrests an example of “BJP-RSS mob rule.” He was referring to the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its parent body, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (national volunteer corps), by their acronyms. Sisters Vandana Francis and Preeti Mary, who are members of Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate (ASMI), a Franciscan congregation of the Syro- Malabar Church, were arrested on July 25 by the Railway Police at Durg railway station in central Chhattisgarh state. Chhattisgarh is a BJP-ruled state, and its chief minister, Vishnu Deo Sai, defended the action, terming it a serious matter of “human trafficking under the guise of religious conversion.” He asserted that the law would take its own course. However, Rahul Gandhi alleged “systematic persecution of minorities” and a “dangerous pattern” of targeting individuals for their faith. “Religious freedom is a constitutional right,” he asserted. Sisters Francis and Mary had gone to Durg railway station to pick up three young women, aged between 19 and 22, to be employed as domestic help in three convents in the state. As the nuns and the girls were showing their tickets to a railway official, a mob arrived and surrounded them, said Father Josh Abraham from Raipur archdiocese, based in the state’s capital.
“The members of the mob claimed to belong to Bajrang Dal, a militant Hindu group, and accused the nuns of forcibly taking away the girls for religious conversion,” the priest, who is a lawyer and gathered details of the incident, told on July 28. The railway police arrived and took away the nuns, the girls, and a boy who accompanied them for the journey from their homes to Durg.
“The police later took the three girls to a shelter home. The nuns and the boy were charged with human trafficking and religious conversion, and remanded in custody for 14 days by a local court,” Abraham said. The priest-lawyer said the police had said they would release the nuns and the boy in the evening, but instead jailed them. The girls are members of the Church of South India (CSI), a union of Protestant denominations. One of them allegedly told the police that she was taken to Durg without her consent. “This could have been done by pressuring the girl, which led to totally false charges being laid against the nuns,” Abraham alleged.
He said the nuns’ bail applications were filed on July 28 and hoped they would be released soon, as the “charges against them are totally false and baseless.” Both the nuns are natives of Kerala, and their arrest and jailing caused a stir in the southern state. Parliamentarians belonging to the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) from Kerala staged a protest in the parliament complex, waving placards that read “Stop attacks on minorities.” Federal Minister of State for Minority Affairs George Kurian, who is also from Kerala, refused to take a clear stand, saying “the matter was subjudiced.”

Christian leaders and activists have criticized a petition seeking a presidential pardon for Rabindra Kumar Pal, known as Dara Singh, the main convict in the 1999 murder of Australian missi-onary Graham Staines and his two children. “A plea for mercy must never come at the expense of truth or the suffering of victims,” Father Ajay Singh, a rights activist who has been following the case, told on July 24.
Mahendra Hembram, the only other convict imprisoned in the same case, submitted the mercy petition to President Droupadi Murmu on July 15. Hembram himself was released last April for his “good behaviour” after spending 25 years in prison. The mercy petition “cannot be morally justified” unless the murderer shows “sincere repentance” and acknowledges “the gravity of the crime,” said the priest from the Archdiocese of Cuttack–Bhubaneswar in Eastern Odisha state.
However, neither Hembram nor the prime convict has expressed any sense of “remorse” for burning to death the missionary and his two sons, aged 6 and 10. A district court initially convicted 13 people, including Dara Singh and Hembram. However, the Orissa High Court acquitted 11 of them. Dara Singh was initially sentenced to death, but it was later commuted to life in prison, the same punishment given to his accomplice Hembram.

Vatican’s Secretary for Re-lations with States, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, met with India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar amid calls to make increasing attacks against Chri-stians a bilateral discussion point. Gallagher, on a week-long visit to India, met Jaishankar in New Delhi on July 17, the third day after arriving, following some church functions and meetings with church officials. Jaishankar, in a social media post, said he was “pleased” to meet the Vatican official. It was “a good conver-sation about the importance of faith, and the need for dialogue and diplomacy to address conflicts,” the post said. Neither the Vatican nor India issued any public statements on the issues the officials discussed. Church officials in India also refused to comment on the “conflicts” Jaishankar mentioned in his post.
However, the archbishop was asked to take up the increasing Hindu attacks against Christians in bilateral dialogues with Indian officials in a memorandum that an ecumenical Christian group submitted. The violence against Christians “should be taken up in bilateral human rights dialogues with India, specifically highligh-ting the targeted use of anti-con-version laws on religious minori-ties,” said the memorandum United Christian Forum (UCF) submitted to Gallagher. The Vatican’s engagement should not be limited to the federal govern-ment but also include state govern-ments that “aggressively enforce” anti-conversion laws, it said.
Archbishop Anil Joseph Couto of Delhi submitted the memora-ndum on behalf of the group during a meeting with Gallagher at the Vatican Nunciature in New Delhi on July 17. The memoran-dum wanted the Vatican to issue official statements “condemning the rising incidents of violence and systemic discrimination against Christians in India.”
It also wanted the Vatican to take steps to “ensure judicial transparency” in trials under anti-conversion laws and to have “monitoring and fact-finding missions” to assess ground realities, particularly in states witnessing recurring violence. “Anti-Christian violence has been consistently increasing,” A. C. Michael, convenor of the ecumenical forum, told UCA News, pointing to the numbers in the memorandum. The forum, which documents violence targeted at Christians in the country, recorded 834 incidents in 2024, from 734 incidents in 2023.

Church leaders have criticized the authorities of one of India’s most famous Hindu temples for suspending four employees because of their Christian faith. The managers of the Sri Venkates-wara temple, popularly known as the Tirupati temple, in southern Andhra Pradesh state, announced on July 19 the suspension of employees for “following other religions.” The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), a trust managed under the state govern-ment, manages the temple, billed as India’s most popular and richest.
“The employees were reportedly following the Christian faith, which violates the code of conduct,” of the temples, TTD said in a statement posted on social media. The decision was taken following a vigilance report and review of supporting evidence, the trust said. The temple report-edly owns assets and properties worth about US$30 billion, making it one of the richest in the world. The TTD’s administrative board manages 12 temples and sub-shrines, employing some 14,000 people. Father Robinson Rodri-gues, public relations officer of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), termed the deci-sion a violation of constitutional rights.

A verdict by the Madras High Court in the state of Tamil Nadu could serve as a guide to resolve several cases across India where state officials have delayed staff appointments at Church – run educational institutions, Church officials say. Father Maria Charles, secretary of the Indian Catholic bishops’ Office for Education, called the court order “a blessing,” as many Christian-run, government-aided educational institutions face staffing problems nationwide. Charles told on July 23 that the verdict from the highest court in the southern state regarding staff appointments at Jesuit-run Loyola College could be des-cribed as a “guiding verdict safeguarding the rights of religious minorities.” The court ordered the state government on July 14 to grant approval for 19 appointments –18 assistant professors and one librarian – made by Loyola College, an autono-mous institution for higher education based in the state capital, Chennai.

India’s federal agency responsible for protecting the interests of religious minorities has sought details about the rising anti-Christian attacks in eastern Odisha state, following the latest incident where a Hindu mob attacked and injured 30 Christians. The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) on June 27 sent a letter to the chief secretary, the state’s top bureaucrat, instructing him to “get the matter investigated and send the report to the Commission within 21 days.”
The statutory body’s response followed a June 26 complaint from A.C. Michael, a Christian leader and rights activist based in New Delhi, the national capital. Michael, in his complaint, said a crowd of approximately 400 people “launched a coordinated assault” against Christians in remote Kotamateru village in Odisha’s Malkangiri district on June 21. The village has some 70 households, but only 11 of them are Christian. “More than 30 Christians were injured in the violent attack, and among them, 20 sustained grievous injuries,” he said. Michael termed it “a violent and targeted attack,” adding that tensions in the region had been escalating for several days prior to the incident, with Christians receiving repeated threats.
The Christians were attacked while they gathered to pray over the seeds they were preparing to sow, seeking God’s blessing for a fruitful harvest and the upcoming season. “It was during this peaceful gathering that the mob attacked them without provocation,” he stated in the complaint.
The news of the attack reached authorities late due to the village’s remote location and limited communication options. “One resident managed to contact a pastor from outside the village, who immediately informed the Malkangiri Police Station. Police arrived shortly afterward,” the complaint said.
The injured were moved to the district hospital, while others sought refuge in a nearby church building, which is now serving as a temporary shelter, Michael said, while seeking adequate compensation and rehabilitation for the victims. Michael told on July 1 that he was happy about the commission’s “swift response” to his complaint.