Two Catholic religious who were arrested in a train station in the center of India were released on bail after spending more than 10 days in prison.
“The Catholic Bishop Conference of India (CBCI) has received with relief the concession of the bond to sister Preeth and the Vandana sister by the NIA Court in Bisaspur,” said the Indian bishops in a statement on August 2, after the liberation of the religious, which, they said, “has brought a feeling of hope to the Christian community.”
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The Railway Police arrested on July 25 the Pre -Esti Mary and Vandana Francis sisters of the Congregation Sisters Assisi of María Immaculate, at the Durg train station, in the state of Chhattisgarh, for alleged trafficking of persons and forced conversion.
The religious accompanied three young women between 19 and 22 years old and an indigenous young man from Narayanpur to Agra, in Uttar Pradesh, where the young women had planned to start working.
“We are grateful to the Government for the support shown in this case,” said the president of the CBCI, Mons. Andrews Thazhat, in the statement. He added: “We hope that this will mark the beginning of a renewed effort to protect the rights and dignity of all religious minorities in our secular democracy.”
The bishops thanked the Christians of different denominations and all “those who sympathized” with the religious during their imprisonment, and asked the government to “take concrete measures to stop the growing acts of intimidation against members of religious communities.”
The news of his release occurs after the Hindu Nationalist Party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) delayed the process, which caused protests throughout the country. At the time, the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India expressed its “indignation and deep concern” for arrests, denouncing that the religious had been “object of harassment, false accusations and manufactured cases.”
“They were physically assaulted and the arrest was made despite the fact that the parents of each of the women, all over 18, had given their written consent,” said the bishops, describing the fact as “a serious violation” of the country’s constitution.
“It is absolutely shocking and sad that these two religious sisters have been illegally arrested under false accusations of human trafficking and forced conversion,” said Ewtn News on July 30 – sister M. Nirmalini, president of the female branch of the Religious Conference of India.
“The accusation was presented without verifying or verifying the facts,” added the religious, belonging to the Apostolic Carmelite congregation. He also indicated that some congregations have asked their members not to use their habits in public “to avoid harassment.”
Translated and adapted by ACI Press. Originally published in CNA.
Low Elhabbal
Madalaine Elhabbal is a CNA journalist based in the Washington DC office in EWTN. He has published articles in Catholicvote and has also worked as a foreign language assistant in France. She is a graduate of Benedictine College.