Malayali Nuns arrested in Chhattisgarh granted conditional bail
Sister Vandana Francis from Udayagiri Parish in Thalassery, Kannur, and Sister Preethi Mary from Elavoor Parish in Angamaly, Kerala, were granted bail on the condition of two sureties of ₹50,000 each.
The court also directed them to surrender their passports and prohibited them from leaving the country. The nuns had been in jail for the past nine days, facing charges related to religious conversion and human trafficking.
Sisters Preethi Mary and Vandana Francis, along with Sukaman Mandavi, were taken into custody at Durg railway station on July 25, following a complaint filed by a local Bajrang Dal functionary. The complaint alleged that the trio was attempting to forcibly convert three girls from Narayanpur and traffic them.
The prosecution did not strongly oppose the bail plea during the previous hearing and limited its arguments to technical grounds. The prosecutor informed the court that the investigation is still in its early stages.
Meanwhile, leaders of the Congress, CPI(M), and BJP welcomed the court's decision to release the nuns from Kerala, as the state had witnessed several protests alleging that the Sangh Parivar was blocking the release of the nuns by involving the NIA in the case.
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