Yet another incident involving the right-wing Bajrang Dal has come to light, this time at Jharkhand’s Tata Nagar railway station, where members raised allegations of religious conversion against a group of tribal children led by a Catholic nun, after which officials questioned the nun and the children for over five hours, allegations that were later found to be baseless.
The children, comprising four boys and fifteen girls, had deboarded the South Bihar Express on Friday night while being accompanied to Jamshedpur for a two-day life-skills training programme, and authorities confirmed that the allegations of religious conversion were unfounded, according to The Indian Express.
The nun, who works in tribal-dominated villages of Saraikela-Kharsawan district on adolescent awareness projects, reported that she and the children were followed by two men during their journey from Kharsawan to Jamshedpur, and the train’s TTE questioned her about their destination, after which a commotion arose on the platform as passengers began scrutinising the minors’ religion.
She presented permission letters signed by guardians and the village’s munda, which allowed the children to attend the programme, and explained that the children had been participating in such initiatives for several years, with some coming from non-Christian families who continued to follow their own faiths, while a few lacked Aadhaar cards as their participation had been decided at the last minute.
The children remained on the platform from 11 pm to around 4 am, initially under the supervision of the Railway Protection Force before being handed over to the Government Railway Police, and during this time, Bajrang Dal members reportedly took photos and videos of the minors.
Authorities clarified that the Child Helpline’s role was limited to ensuring the welfare of the children, and no suspicious activity was detected, while police confirmed that no religious conversion had taken place and that investigations were ongoing.
Bajrang Dal’s local unit stated that their members had noticed protective threads on the children’s hands and took photographs to gather evidence, arguing that the minors were too young to understand the programme, and the RPF intervened after official documents such as Aadhaar cards were unavailable.