NIA court in Chhattisgarh grants conditional bail to Kerala nuns, tribal man in human trafficking, conversion case

Time of India

5 days ago

RAIPUR:
A special
National Investigation Agency
(NIA) court in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district on Saturday granted conditional bail to the two Catholic nuns from Kerala and a tribal man arrested last month on charges of human trafficking and forced religious conversion.
The bail was granted by Principal District and Sessions Judge (NIA Court) Sirajuddin Qureshi, who had reserved the order on Friday after hearing arguments from both sides.
Reacting to the development, Chhattisgarh chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai said, "It was a legal procedure and bail has been granted in it."
With the court granting conditional bail, the three accused were released from jail on Saturday evening, though legal proceedings in the case will continue.
The defence lawyer Amrito Das told reporters, 'The bail was heard yesterday, and the arguments have concluded. Honourable court had reserved the matter to declare the verdict on Saturday. The bail application has now been accepted and granted to all the three applicants. The condition prescribed is that the applicants have to submit a bond of Rs 50,000 each. They must cooperate fully with the ongoing investigation and appear before the investigation officer whenever summoned.
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The accused are prohibited from tampering with evidence or influencing witnesses in any manner, they will have to surrender their passports and can't leave the country."
The alleged accused nuns Sister Preethi Merry and Sister Vandana Francis and another local tribal Christian Sukaman Mandavi, were arrested by Government Railway Police (GRP) on July 25 at Durg railway station. The arrests followed a complaint lodged by a local Bajrang Dal functionary, who alleged that the trio was trafficking three tribal girls from Narayanpur district of Bastar division under the pretext of religious conversion and taking them to Agra.
Following their arrest, they were sent to judicial custody and the case was later referred to the special NIA court in Bilaspur. The issue has triggered political reactions from Kerala and beyond.
According to the court's order, the bail was granted considering that no prior criminal record was found of any of the accused, all alleged victims are adults, and no material was presented to prove coercion or inducement for religious conversion.
he accused were not found in possession of any objectionable material, and the prosecution did not seek custodial interrogation, indicating no immediate need for further detention, the order stated.
The court noted that while the allegations are serious, the investigation is in a preliminary stage, and no direct evidence of trafficking or forced conversion has been presented so far. The judge emphasized that bail cannot be denied merely on the basis of unverified allegations when no strong prima facie case is made out at this stage.
Speaking to media persons after the bail was granted, deputy chief minister Vijay Sharma who also holds Home portfolio stated that the investigation in the matter will continue, as it was alarming that girls from a place like Abujhamarh which hardly has access to a school, were being taken to Agra. It's difficult to open a school there, how could it be accessible for other to contact locals be taken to some place else, he said.
'As far as the issue of religious conversion is concerned, now that the matter is coming to the fore, it wouldn't be wrong for people to create awareness against such activities. Of course, it shouldn't be unlawful or personal act,' Sharma said.
Meanwhile, the three tribal women survivors of Narayanpur went to the office of SP in district headquarters seeking to lodge an FIR against Bajrang Dal activists for allegedly assaulting them and forcing them to give false statements against nuns before the Durg GRP.
Kerala's Cardinal Baselios on Nuns' Bail: 'We trust the courts, judicial process has now begun'
Hours after the NIA court in Chhattisgarh granted conditional bail to two nuns arrested on charges of human trafficking and religious conversion, the President of Kerala Catholic Bishops Council Cardinal Baselios Cleemis Catholicos told TOI over a phone call, 'With the bail granted, the first charter of the circumstance has come to a conclusion, but we don't think the issue is closed.
The judicial process now begins and we wish the sisters to be declared innocent after the legal process.'
Speaking as the spokesman of the Church, Baselios said, 'We all believe that they are innocent and were trying to help the young girls. The girls are mature and not minors, they can a decision for themselves. Let the court take its act of justice and we have all confidence in the court.'
'We believe that the accusations against nuns have to be proved, while my apprehension is that once a crowd is dictates what is right and not, things in democracy and judiciary will be in trouble.
Let the court alone make the sincere investigation and find the truth,' he added.
'The nuns are from Kerala and we are with them on different levels as we have emotional attachment with them. They are not two simple sisters, the issue is of serious concern for us. It shouldn't happen again anywhere in the country. Else, anyone could accuse anyone and put them in jail, who will prove them innocent,' Cardinal Baselios said.
Cardinal Baselios Cleemis is a former President of Catholic Bishops Conference of India twice, and is present consultant to Pope Leo XIV in the dicastry of inter-religious dialogue, besides, he's also serving as head of the Syro Malankara Catholic Church in Kerala.
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