Kerala parties, bishop council welcome bail granted to nuns arrested in Chhattisgarh

Thiruvananthapuram/Thrissur: The ruling LDF, the Opposition UDF and a prominent catholic body in Kerala on Saturday welcomed the grant of bail to the two nuns who were arrested in Chhattisgarh over allegations of human trafficking and forced conversion.

A special NIA court in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district granted conditional bail to three persons, including the two nuns from Kerala.

Nuns Preethi Merry and Vandana Francis along with 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 girls from Narayanpur and trafficking them.

State General Education Minister V Sivankutty, in a Facebook post, termed the development "heartening", but said that the political agenda behind the nuns' arrest was very clear.

He also claimed that the incident highlights the double standards of the BJP as it was turning a blind eye to the alleged atrocities against and persecutions of the minority communities in states ruled by the saffron party, while acting as their protectors in Kerala for political gains.

He called for a united stand against such alleged moves to destroy the religious and personal freedom guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.

The grant of bail to the nuns, nine days after their arrest on July 25, was welcomed by the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, V D Satheesan, who said that they were jailed in a false case for crimes they did not commit.

He also claimed that the prosecution on Saturday also opposed the bail plea, but did not ask for custodial interrogation of the nuns.

"At the same time, the lawyers for the Bajrang Dal demanded that bail not be granted for any reason," he further claimed while talking to reporters in the state capital. So, what the BJP's national and Kerala leaderships said regarding the matter has no relevance, he said.

"They were unable to control the Bajrang Dal or the Chhattisgarh government. It shows that they were also working together," he alleged.

Archbishop of Trichur Andrews Thazhath, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), said he was happy that the nuns got bail.

At the same time, he claimed that the nuns were arrested following false allegations against them by some people and therefore, the case against them should be quashed as soon as possible.

"So, the required steps for that should be taken by the concerned governments," he told reporters in Thrissur.