The special court hearing National Investigation Agency (NIA) cases in Chhattisgarh has granted bail to two Kerala nuns arrested over charges of forced religious conversion and human trafficking. A localite arrested along with the nuns on similar charges has also been granted relief.
The special court in Bilaspur granted bail to the nuns Preethi Mary and Vandana Francis, along with Sukaman Mandavi, a resident of Narayanpur, who were arrested on charges of trafficking three girls from Narayanpur.
Principal District and Sessions Judge Sirajuddin Qureshi granted bail to the accused on conditions that they surrender their passport, two persons stand as sureties, and they furnish bond for ₹50,000. The court heard the bail application on Friday and reserved judgment for Saturday.
The nuns, along with Sukaman Mandavi, were arrested from Durg station in Chhattisgarh on July 24. They were arrested after Bajrang Dal workers cornered them at the station and questioned them about the whereabouts of three tribal girls with them. The tribal women were reportedly accompanying the nuns for a job at a missionary-run institution in Agra.
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The arrests had led to huge political furore in Kerala, where the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Congress targeted the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party over the arrests and accused them of harassing minorities. The Kerala BJP chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the arrest was a fallout of a "misunderstanding" and the party is making all efforts to secure the release of the nuns.
However, the Chhattisgarh BJP was not in favour of releasing the nuns initially. Home Minister Amit Shah had met Chhattisgarh Vishnu Deo Sai in New Delhi on Friday over the issue.