Durg, Chhattisgarh: The Chhattisgarh police allowed five individuals, including Members of Parliament and a family member, to meet the two Catholic nuns from Kerala who were arrested last week on charges of religious conversion and human trafficking, according to media reports.

The permission was granted to meet the nuns for 15 minutes. However, more details regarding the meeting are yet to come. 

The approved visitors included Sister Preethi’s brother, Baiju, along with Opposition MPs Benny Behanan, N. K. Premachandran, and Francis George. Although the delegation was initially denied access, they were eventually allowed to meet the detained nuns after staging a protest outside the jail and formally objecting to the refusal.

Sister Vandana and Sister Preethi, members of the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate (ASMI), a Syro-Malabar Church congregation based in Cherthala, were detained at Durg railway station on Friday. The nuns, who work at Fatima Hospital in Agra, were accompanying three young girls, reportedly for domestic work, when they were intercepted by a group of people and later taken into police custody.

The situation escalated after one of the girls allegedly told police she had been taken without her consent. The absence of Aadhaar cards for the girls further raised suspicion. A brother of one of the girls was also reportedly present at the time.