Raipur
A National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Bilaspur on Saturday granted conditional bail to three people, including two Catholic nuns from Kerala, who were arrested on charges of ‘human trafficking and forced religious conversion’ of tribal girls. The arrests had acquired political connotations and led to protests by the Opposition parties, right from Kerala to Delhi — by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Principal District and Sessions Judge (NIA Court) Sirajuddin Qureshi granted bail to Preethi Merry, Vandana Francis (both from Kerala), and Sukaman Mandavi, with conditions that they surrender their passports, furnish a bond of Rs 50,000 each, and provide two sureties. The court also ordered the accused to not leave the country.
The three were arrested by the Government Railway Police (GRP) on July 25 at Durg railway station after a complaint was filed by a local Bajrang Dal functionary alleging that the trio had trafficked three tribal girls from Narayanpur and were attempting to forcibly convert them.
“It transpired from the case diary that the FIR was registered primarily based on a mere apprehension and suspicion of committing the offence by the accused persons. The arrest memo of the accused shows there is no previous record of their criminal history and the parents of the three victims (tribal girls) have filed their affidavits stating the accused have not allured or forced their daughters for religious conversion or human trafficking. Besides, the two victim girls in their statement before the police stated they have been followers of Christianity since childhood”, the NIA court stated in its order.
The court also observed that there is no requisition from the investigating agency for the custodial interrogation of the accused persons.
Reacting to the development, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai said, “It was a legal procedure, and bail has been granted in it.” He had earlier asked the Opposition not to politicise the issue.
“We were on our way to Agra for work. Jyoti Sharma (Bajrang Dal functionary) accused us of religious conversion and human trafficking. These are false allegations. We’ve been attending prayers since childhood. What she says is a lie,” Sukaman Mandavi said.
Earlier this week, the lower JMFC court and the Sessions Fast Track Special Court Judge in Durg district had denied bail to the them.
In the meantime, the three girls who were allegedly being trafficked approached the office of Narayanpur SP to register an FIR against Bajrang Dal activists for allegedly assaulting them and forcing them to give false statements against the nuns.
