Last Updated:
The bail was granted with conditions, including the surrender of their passports, furnishing a bond of ₹50,000 each, and submission of two sureties.
Kerala nuns, Preeti Mary and Vandana Franci, granted bail | File Image
A special NIA court in Chhattisgarh on Saturday granted bail to two Kerala-based nuns and another individual, nine days after their arrest in a case related to alleged human trafficking and forced religious conversion.
The bail was granted with conditions, including the surrender of their passports, furnishing a bond of ₹50,000 each, and submission of two sureties.
The hearing took place before Principal District and Sessions Judge (NIA court) Sirajuddin Qureshi in Bilaspur. Public prosecutor Dauram Chandravanshi opposed the bail plea, stating that the investigation was still in its initial phase.
Preethi Mary and Vandana Francis, both nuns, along with Sukaman Mandavi, were taken into custody by railway police at Durg station on July 25, following a complaint lodged by a local Bajrang Dal leader.
The trio was accused of human trafficking and coercing three tribal women from Narayanpur district into religious conversion.
During the court proceedings, defence counsel Amrito Das argued that the women involved were all adults who had been practising Christianity prior to the incident.
He further pointed out that the accused had not been placed in police custody and that the three women had already been sent back to their families.
According to police statements, the parents confirmed that their daughters had neither been abducted nor deceived.
The arrests triggered a political controversy, with opposition parties raising the matter in Parliament earlier this week.
On Friday, a delegation from the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in Kerala travelled to Raipur to meet the two nuns in custody.
The Congress party has alleged that assigning the case to an NIA-designated court was an intentional tactic to prolong the bail process.
view comments
- Location :
Chhattisgarh, India, India
Read More
Source link
[ad_3]
