Catholic Sisters in Kerala, India / Adobe Stock
Two Catholic nuns and an indigenous youth jailed last month in central India on charges of human trafficking and forced conversion have been released on bail, though a court has imposed sweeping restrictions on their freedom.
A National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, granted bail Aug. 2 to Sisters Vandana Francis and Preeti Mary, members of the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate, as well as Sukhuman Mandavi, UCA News reported. Their July 25 arrest at Durg railway station triggered widespread protests across India, particularly in Kerala, the sisters’ home state.
CatholicVote previously reported that the sisters had been helping three young women to secure work as domestic help in convents. Mandavi had accompanied the women on their journey. At the station, members of the Bajrang Dal, a hardline Hindu group, intercepted the group and accused them of attempting forced religious conversions through trafficking.
Despite initial detainment under suspicion of terrorism-related crimes, the NIA explicitly acknowledged in its order the absence of evidence for such claims, according to UCA News.
“The parents of the three victims have filed their affidavits stating that the accused persons/applicants have not allured or forced or coerced their daughters for religious conversion or human trafficking,” the court noted in its ruling.
Although the three were released from jail, the court imposed strict bail conditions. They must surrender their passports, report to a local police station every two weeks, and avoid interfering with the investigation.
The court also prohibited them from speaking to the media or making public statements about the case while legal proceedings are ongoing.
Any violation of these terms, the court warned, could result in the immediate cancellation of their bail. Each person had to post a bond of 50,000 Indian rupees (about $570 USD), along with two sureties of the same amount.
Local reports indicate that the young women involved in the case now plan to file complaints against the Bajrang Dal members, according to UCA News. They allege that members of the Hindu group assaulted them at the railway station and later coerced them into giving false statements at the police station.
Govind Yadav, a Supreme Court lawyer in New Delhi, called the episode “a clear case of violation of fundamental rights of the accused and the women,” UCA News reported.
He asserted that the charges are unsustainable in court given the affidavits provided by the alleged victims and their parents.
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