Two nuns freed after getting bail in 'trafficking' case, Kerala MPs celebrate outside jail

Durg: Two nuns from Kerala and a co-accused arrested for alleged 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".

The court also noted that the parents of the alleged victims denied that their daughters had been in anyway lured, or forced to convert to Christianity, by the accused.

Catholic nuns Preethy Mary and Vandana Francis were received outside the jail by several leaders from Kerala, including LDF MPs and Kerala BJP chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar, and also some 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 arrest memo also mentioned that the accused were not habitual offenders or there was no apprehension of their absconding, it noted.

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 investigating agency did not place any material to show how the custody of the accused was necessary for the probe, the order said.

Besides surrendering their passports and informing the NIA their addresses, the applicants shall report to the Station House Officer of the police station within whose jurisdiction they will live once every fortnight, and make themselves available for interrogation whenever needed, said the court.

It also instructed them not to try to influence the witnesses, or even give interviews to the media or make any public comment in connection with the case.

The trio were arrested by the Government Railway Police (GRP) 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 of the nuns 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.