KOCHI: It has been a week since Sr Vandana Francis and Sr Preethy Mary of the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate (ASMI) were jailed on charges of forced religious conversion and human trafficking. On Friday, their hopes of getting bail were crushed when prosecutors vehemently opposed their petition in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) court, to which the case was referred by a sessions court citing jurisdictional issues. This, even after Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s assurance that the Chhattisgarh government would not oppose the plea. However, according to people’s representatives from Kerala, there is hope that the court would grant them bail when it issues its judgment on Saturday.
Despite the legal uncertainty, the two remain calm and continue to hold on to the hope that a positive outcome will emerge soon, Angamaly MLA Roji M John said. He visited the nuns in jail on Friday, and, according to him, they appeared calm and collected. “The nuns know they have not committed any crime and would be exonerated,” he told TNIE.
Roji pointed out that there are many loopholes in the case.
“When the nuns’ lawyer pointed out that no custodial interrogation papers had been filed, the prosecution couldn’t rebut it. To date, police have not questioned them. This shows that they don’t have anything to ask. All the charges have been fabricated. Hence, we have great hope that the nuns will get bail on Saturday,” the MLA said.
He accused the BJP of duplicity.
“They said that the state government won’t be pursuing the case and that the prosecution won’t oppose the bail plea. But that is not what happened in court on Friday.
Joining ranks in prayer
These have been difficult days for Sr Vandana and Sr Preethy’s fellow nuns of the ASMI order. “But they are not alone,” Sr Isbel Francis, superior general of the ASMI generalate of Green Gardens, Cherthala, told TNIE. “Nuns all over the country and even outside have joined ranks. They are observing fast and praying for their fellow sisters,” she said.
Sr Isbel is presently at the convent in Narayanpur, Chhattisgarh, to extend her support to the jailed sisters. “This is our mission convent, with the Assisi Shanti Health Centre, which was started in Narayanpur in 1976, being the focal point. The health centre was later developed into a hospital in 2015. It is the only healthcare facility providing medical and surgical care to the downtrodden and underprivileged in the area. The two sisters had worked at the hospital,” she said.
“Sr Vandana worked as a pharmacist and was the superior at the hospital in Agra, while Sr Preethy is a qualified nurse. Sr Preethy did her nursing course and training with us in Cherthala. Since the day they donned the habit, they have been working tirelessly for the welfare of the poor,” she said.
This is the first time that the congregation has faced such a crisis, Sr Isbel said. “I will be staying here till my sisters come home. I believe that they would get bail very soon,” she added. As for the continuation of their work in Narayanpur and the fate of the hospital following the nightmarish incident, Sr Isbel said they will continue with their work and won’t back out. “If we close this hospital, the poor won’t have anywhere to go for medical help,” she added.