A Special NIA court in Chhattisgarh on Saturday granted bail to three people, including two Catholic nuns from Kerala, who were recently arrested from Chhattisgarh’s Durg district in an alleged case of forced religious conversion and human trafficking.
Principal District and Sessions Judge (NIA Court) Sirajuddin Qureshi passed the order today.
Catholic nuns Preethi Merry and Vandana Francis, along with Narayanpur resident Sukaman Mandavi, were arrested from Durg railway station on July 25 for their alleged involvement in forceful conversion and human trafficking.
Local Bajrang Dal member Ravi Nigam had alleged that the trio had trafficked and forcibly converted three young tribal women from Narayanpur district.
The petitioners initially approached the Sessions court in Durg for bail, which raised a jurisdictional dispute, and dismissed their plea on the grounds that the case should be taken up by a special court.
The accused then moved the Special NIA court in Bilaspur.
Defence Counsel Amrito Das argued before the Bilaspur court that the 55-year-old nurses were in social service and not criminals. No force was used to compel the three women from Narayanpur to travel with the nurses. The parents were aware that the women were going with the nurses for work and they themselves sent them, he added.
The court took into consideration the statement given by the girls’ parents, saying that they have been following Christianity for the past 4-5 years. It further took into account the lack of criminal antecedents,as well as the fact that the investigating agency did not seek custodial interrogation of the accused.
The parents of the girls filed affidavits stating that the accused did not allure or force their daughters for religious conversion or human trafficking. Two girls also gave a statement that they have been practising Christianity since their childhood.
The issue has snowballed in Kerala with the BJP state unit being put on the defensive following the widespread outrage at the arrests. Both the ruling CPI(M) and the opposition Congress had ridiculed the BJP over the grounds of arrest. Following this, BJP Kerala unit chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar had downplayed the incident and had promised to take up the fight for their release.