Kerala Nuns Arrested in Chhattisgarh Granted Bail After 9 Days
A special NIA court in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, on Saturday granted bail to two Kerala-based nuns and another person, nine days after they were arrested in a contentious case involving allegations of human trafficking and forced religious conversion. The bail was granted with several conditions, including the surrender of their passports and the submission of a ₹50,000 bond each.
The two nuns, Preethi Mary and Vandana Francis, along with an individual named Sukaman Mandavi, were taken into custody by railway police at Durg station on July 25. Their arrest followed a complaint lodged by a local Bajrang Dal leader, who accused them of trafficking and attempting to forcibly convert three tribal women from Narayanpur district.
During the hearing before Principal District and Sessions Judge Sirajuddin Qureshi, the public prosecutor opposed the bail plea, arguing that the investigation was still in its initial stages. However, the defense counsel, Amrito Das, countered that the three women involved were adults who were already practicing Christians before the incident. He also pointed out that the accused had not been placed in police custody and that the women had been returned to their families, whose parents confirmed there was no abduction or deceit involved.
The case has ignited a significant political controversy, with opposition parties raising the matter in Parliament earlier this week. On Friday, a Congress delegation from Kerala traveled to Raipur to meet the nuns in custody. The Congress party has alleged that assigning the case to an NIA-designated court was a deliberate tactic by the authorities to delay the bail process for the accused.
