Bilaspur court grants bail to Kerala nuns booked for religious conversion and human trafficking

Two Kerala nuns in Chhattisgarh who were booked for human trafficking and forced religious conversion were granted bail by a special Bilaspur court on Saturday. Three people, including two nuns, were charged in the case and have been released on conditional bail.

Defence Lawyer Amrito Das, who is representing the nuns in the case, said that conditional bail was granted to three people (as reported by PTI), "The judge granted bail observing there was no need to keep them in custody." 

On Friday, the Principal District and Session Judge, Sirajuddin Qureshi, reserved the order on their bail pleas after hearing. 

The petitioner's advocate, B Gopakumar, said, "Some bail conditions are put up, including not going abroad, surrendering the passport, and not influencing the witness. The process of furnishing the bail will be followed (in 1-2 hours), after which the releasing order will be received (in the second half of the day)." 

After the bail was approved, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) President and Thrisur Archbishop Mar Andrews Thazhath said, "I thank God and everyone for this good news...the two sisters had come to work in a hospital with the permission of their parents. A mob of extremists attacked them...and they were arrested under totally false accusations. Our request is that the case be quashed at the earliest, because the delay might lead to more false accusations. There should be an act from the Government to protect against such incidents...Many fringe groups have attacked Christianity in recent times...I thank all the people of goodwill for taking efforts for the release of the sisters and thank the Center and State Governments for their active intervention..." 

#WATCH |Thrissur | On Two Kerala nuns arrested in Chhattisgarh granted bail by the NIA court in Chhattisgarh, Catholic Bishops Conference Of India (CBCI) President and Thrissur Archbishop Mar Andrews Thazhath says, "I thank God and everyone for this good news... The two sisters… pic.twitter.com/xu4RyetFIa

— ANI (@ANI) August 2, 2025

Catholic nuns' arrest case

Preethi Merry and Vandana Francis, two Catholic nuns, were arrested along with Sukaman Mandavi at Durg Railway Station on July 25, 2025, after a complaint was registered by a Bajrang Dal member for allegedly converting three young tribal women from Narayanpur and trafficking them. 

On Friday's hearing, Defence Lawyer Das stated that the prosecution did not ask for police custody of the three people, and the victims were sent back to their homes. Even stressing that the alleged victims are adults and are practicing Christianity of their own will. While Public Prosecutor Dauram Chandravanshi had opposed the bail application, calling the case an early stage of investigation.  

The arrest of the two nuns has sparked a political row and protests from the community. Congress and CPI(M) are criticizing the move. State party Chief of Kerala, Rajeev Chandrashekhar, said that the two nuns were arrested based on a misunderstanding. 

While Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai has accused the opposition of politicizing the matter and intervening in the investigation process. He took to social media, calling it a case of human trafficking, "Three daughters of Narayanpur were promised nursing training and jobs. A person from Narayanpur handed them over to two nuns at Durg station, who were taking them to Agra."