Two Kerala nuns released from Durg jail after getting bail in human trafficking-conversion case

Two nuns from Kerala and another person, accused of human trafficking and forced conversion, were released from Durg Central Jail in Chhattisgarh on Saturday after a court granted them bail holding that the case was based on “mere suspicion”.

Leaders of the Congress and ruling LDF in Kerala welcomed the news, and accused the BJP of ignoring the atrocities against minorities in the states ruled by it while championing their cause in the southern state.

Archbishop of Trichur Andrews Thazhath, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, said the “false case” against the two women should be withdrawn.

Catholic nuns Preethy Mary and Vandana Francis were received outside the jail in Durg by several leaders from their home state, including LDF MPs and Kerala BJP chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar, and also Congress leaders including former MLA from Durg, Arun Vora.

The nuns left the place with Chandrashekhar in a vehicle.

Earlier, LDF MPs and some members of the Christian community were seen sharing sweets outside the jail after receiving the news of bail order.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) shared a picture on its Facebook account with the message “LDF MPs John Brittas, Jose K Mani, and P Santhosh Kumar celebrate the bail order with the brother of the one of the nuns outside Durg Central jail”.

Elsewhere, the alleged victims of ‘trafficking’ approached Narayanpur police in Chhattisgarh to lodge a complaint against Bajrang Dal activists.

In the morning, the court of Special Judge (NIA Act) Sirajuddin Qureshi at Bilaspur granted bail to the two nuns along with co-accused Sukaman Mandavi on the condition that they surrender their passports and not leave the country.

They were also asked to submit a bond of Rs 50,000 each with two sureties and cooperate with the probe, defence lawyer Amrito Das said.

“It transpires from the Case Diary that the registration of the FIR is primarily based on a mere apprehension and suspicion of commission of an offence by the accused. In the arrest memo of the accused persons, no previous record of their criminal history has been annexed,” said the court.

The parents of the three alleged victims of trafficking filed affidavits stating that the accused had not offered any inducement to their daughters or forced them to convert. Of the three alleged victims—all of them major—two told police that they have been following Christianity since childhood, the judge pointed out.

The two nuns and another person were arrested by the Government Railway Police at the Durg railway station on July 25, following a complaint from a local Bajrang Dal functionary, who accused them of forcibly converting three girls from Narayanpur and trafficking them.

The arrest sparked off a political slugfest with the Congress and CPI(M) criticising the police action and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai accusing them of politicising the issue.

Reacting to the bail, chief minister Sai on Saturday said, “It was a legal procedure, and bail has been granted in it.” Meanwhile, the three young women from Narayanpur—who it had been alleged were being trafficked—submitted a complaint at the office of the Superintendent of Police in Narayanpur seeking to register an FIR against Bajrang Dal activists for allegedly assaulting them and forcing them to give false statements against the nuns.

In Kerala, the ruling LDF, the opposition UDF and a prominent catholic body welcomed the court’s order.

State General Education Minister V Sivankutty, in a Facebook post, termed the development “heartening”, but said that the political agenda behind the nuns’ arrest was very clear.

The incident highlights the double standards of the BJP as it was turning a blind eye to the alleged atrocities against and persecutions of the minority communities in states ruled by the saffron party, while acting as their protectors in Kerala for political gains, he said.

Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly V D Satheesan said the nuns were jailed in a false case for crimes they did not commit.

He also claimed that the prosecution opposed the bail plea, but did not ask for custodial interrogation of the nuns.

“At the same time, the lawyers for the Bajrang Dal demanded that bail not be granted for any reason,” he said, adding that in light of this, what the BJP’s national and Kerala leaderships said regarding the matter has no relevance.

“They were unable to control the Bajrang Dal or the Chhattisgarh government. It shows that they were also working together,” he alleged.

AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said the Chhattisgarh government should withdraw the ‘false case’ against the two nuns.

“The case against the nuns is false and unjustifiable. The government should drop the case and take strong action against the Bajrang Dal workers who attacked them at the railway station and later in front of the police,” he said.

Archbishop Andrews Thazhath said he was happy that the nuns got bail. They were arrested following false allegations and therefore, the case against them should be quashed as soon as possible, he said. “So, the required steps for that should be taken by the concerned governments,” he told reporters in Thrissur.

Kerala minister M B Rajesh questioned Union Minister of State Suresh Gopi’s ‘silence’ on the issue. The BJP and Sangh Parivar adopt one stand on minority issues in Kerala and a different one outside, he said.