Chhattisgarh court reserves order on bail plea of Kerala nuns

Fri, 01 August 2025

17:56

A special NIA court in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district on Friday reserved its order on a bail application filed by three persons including two nuns from Kerala, arrested on the charges of human trafficking and forced religious conversion.

"The prosecution opposed the bail plea, submitting that the case is in its initial stage of investigation. The court has reserved its order till tomorrow (Saturday) after hearing both the parties," public prosecutor Dauram Chandravanshi told reporters.

The hearing took place before Principal District and Sessions Judge (NIA court) Sirajuddin Qureshi.

Nuns Preethi Mary and Vandana Francis along with Sukaman Mandavi were arrested by the railway police at the Durg railway station on July 25 following a complaint by a local Bajrang Dal functionary who accused them of forcibly converting three girls from Narayanpur and trafficking them.

Defence lawyer Amrito Das said the prosecution had not asked for their custody for interrogation, and the alleged victims have been sent back to their homes.

"They are all major, and have been following Christianity already, so the allegation of conversion is false," he said, citing his arguments in the court. -- PTI

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