New Delhi, Mar 25 (IANS): The Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday raised the issue of alleged harassment of nuns during a special mention in the House.

According to reports, the incident took place on March 19 when the nuns were travelling on the Haridwar-Puri Utkal Express. Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) allegedly heckled and forced two nuns and two novices to get off a train in Uttar Pardesh's Jhansi district. A 25-second video from the train compartment shows the women surrounded by some men, some of whom appear to be policemen.

The ABVP members had accused them of carrying out religious conversions.

The four were allowed to proceed only after it was established at the Jhansi railway station that no conversion was involved.

The ABVP is the student's wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological mentor of the BJP.

Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi attacked the RSS on the issue, "The attack in UP on nuns from Kerala is a result of the vicious propaganda run by the Sangh Parivar to pitch one community against another and trample the minorities. Time for us as a nation to introspect and take corrective steps to defeat such divisive forces."

The Kerala unit of the BJP too gave a memorandum on the harassment suffered by the nuns to Shah when he arrived in the state last night for Wednesday's day-long election campaign.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday assured that strict action would be taken against all those involved. "Those involved in the Jhansi nuns' harassment incident will be brought before the law," Amit Shah told reporters in Delhi on Wednesday.