Allegations of attack on nuns in UP 'wrong' says Piyush Goyal

    Kochi, Mar 29 (PTI) Union Railway Minister Piyush
Goyal on Monday dismissed as wrong the allegations that two
nuns belonging to a Kerala-based congregation were "attacked"
during a train journey via Uttar Pradesh recently and alleged
thatChief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was "making false
statements" on the issue.
    "There was no attack on any nun whatsoever...the Chief
Minister of the state (Kerala) is completely lying and making
false statements when he says that," Goyal told a press
conference here.
    The alleged incident occurred at Jhansi railway
station on March 19 had its echoesin the poll-bound Kerala
last week with Chief Minister Vijayan taking it up with the
Centre and Home Minister Amit Shah promising strong action.
    Goyal said the local police, after receiving a
complaint against the nuns, made an investigation whether the
complaint was correct.
    "There was an allegation. Some people made a complaint
(against the nuns). It is the duty of the police to find out
whether the complaint is correct or wrong. Police made
enquiries. Checked all their documents, made enquiries (to
ensure) that they are genuine passengers going for the correct
purpose and then immediately let them go," the minister said
justifying the police action.
    The Railway Minister dismissed the allegations that
the alleged student activists associated with a Sangh Parivar
outfit bogged the nuns down and pulled them out of the train.
    "That is absolutely wrong", he said.
    The minister said if anybody complains, it is the duty
of the police to launch an investigation.
    The minister did not say who made the complainant
against the nuns.
    According to officials in Jhansi, the nuns were
detained on March 19 after local Bajrang Dal activists
complained that two women were allegedly being taken forcibly
for religious conversion.
    The police had said there was no basis in the
complaint and all four women later took the next train to
their destination in Odisha.
    Shah, who was in Kerala to campaign for the party
ahead of the April 6 Assembly polls, had said, "I want to
assure the people of Kerala that the culprits behind this
incident will be brought to justice at the earliest."
    The issue was raised before Shah by BJP's
Kanjirappally Assembly candidate and former union minister K J
Alphonse.
    In a memorandum addressed to Shah, Alphonse had said,
"Such incidents perpetrated by fringe elements and groups
create a sense of insecurity in our minority community."
    Kerala BJP general secretary George Kurian had written
to UP CM Yogi Adityanath on the issue.
    Lashing out at the BJP over the incident, Chief
Minister Vijayan had urged the Centre to take action, saying
such incidents tarnish the image of the nation.
    In his letter to Shah, Vijayan had sought strict
action against those "who disrupt and impair the freedom of
individual rights" guaranteed by the Constitution.
    Vijayan had told reporters that the Constitution gives
freedom to everyone in the country to believe and not to
believe in any religion.
    He had also alleged that Uttar Pradesh is notorious
for such matters.
    "All such illegal activities are taking place under
the BJP government there. It should also be taken seriously
that all this is happening on an uncontrolled scale," Vijayan
had said.PTI TGB SS
PTI PTI

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)