No authority for sessions court; bail plea of nuns arrested in Chhattisgarh transferred to NIA court

RAIPUR: The sessions court has rejected the bail application of the Malayali nuns who are in jail in Chhattisgarh. The case has been transferred to the Bilaspur NIA court for further proceedings. The court directed that the case be transferred to the NIA in the context of the FIR filed against the nuns for serious crimes, including human trafficking. The sessions court has also directed that the High Court be approached for bail. The action is being taken because the sessions court does not have the authority to consider such a case. The lawyers of the church leadership were present in the court for the nuns.

The police arrested Sister Vandana Francis from Udayagiri parish in Thalassery and Sister Preethi Mary from Elavur parish in Angamaly at Durg railway station last Friday. They work at Fatima Hospital in Agra and had reached Durg railway station to pick up three girls for help. The girls were waiting for the nuns here. Meanwhile, the TTE arrived and asked for tickets, but the girls did not have platform tickets.

When they were questioned, the girls said that nuns were coming to pick them up, but the TTE did not believe this. They then informed the Bajrang Dal activists. Accusations were made that human trafficking is happening and that the girls were being taken for forced conversion.

Meanwhile, footage of Bajrang Dal local leader Jyoti Sharma threatening the nuns also surfaced. The leader's threat was in the tone of ' Speak up! Or else I’ll break your face. I’m warning you.' The nuns were being prosecuted by activists in the presence of officers inside the police station. The police officers can also be seen sitting without saying a word in the video. It is clear in the video that Jyoti is wearing a wireless microphone in her dress to shoot a YouTube video. She asked the nuns questions with ambiguous meanings.