A NIA court in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur district Friday reserved its order for Saturday on a bail application filed by three persons, including two nuns from Kerala, who were arrested on July 25 for allegedly trafficking and forcibly converting three women from the state’s Narayanpur district.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW VIDEO
Nuns Preethi Mary and Vandana Francis along with another person Sukaman Mandavi were arrested at Durg railway station on July 25 following a complaint by a local Bajrang Dal functionary, who accused them of forcibly converting three women from Narayanpur and trafficking them.
On Thursday, a sessions court in Durg district had disposed of bail plea of two Kerala nuns, saying that the matter should be heard by an NIA court. The matter was heard by Principal District and Sessions Judge (NIA court) Sirajuddin Qureshi on Friday.
Amrito Das, one of the lawyers of the accused, told The Indian Express, “Our prime thrust was three women victims’ parents clearly said they have been following Christianity for years now and there is no question of forcible conversion. All 3 women are adults. Nothing in the (case) diary said they (victims) were assaulted (by the accused). There are no ingredients for human trafficking or forcible conversion in the FIR or case diary… We argued that the nuns are aged, do not have criminal records and there was no element for registering an offense.”
GRP counsel Dauram Chandravanshi told the media, “The case diary was presented in the court… From the government’s side, we argued investigations are in the initial stage and hence we are opposing their bail.”
