Amid Prayers & Pleas, Jailed Nuns Cling to Hope

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.

- ANU KURUVILLA @ Kochi

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.