The editor of the Catholic weekly Indian Currents has complained of “pure defamation” by Hindu nationalists against the Missionaries of Charity in India.

Father Suresh Mathew spoke to the Fides news service in response to a charge of proselytism, made against the members of the order founded by Mother Teresa. Hindu zealots said that the Missionaries of Charity required residents of a home for girls to wear a crucifox and read the Bible. The charge—lodged in the state of Gujarat—alleged “a criminal attempt to force girls to religious conversion.”