Overview

• Sisters Preethy Mary and Vandana Francis met Kerala BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar in New Delhi on August 16 to express gratitude and request political support for quashing the FIR.
• They secured conditional bail from a special NIA court in Bilaspur on August 2 after spending eight days in Durg Central Jail, with the court ruling the case rested on 'mere suspicion'.
• The two were arrested at Durg railway station in late July following a Bajrang Dal complaint accusing them of trafficking and forced religious conversion of three women en route from Narayanpur to Agra.
• Church authorities and opposition leaders have demanded independent probes into alleged coercion and assaults by Bajrang Dal activists who prompted the initial complaint.
• The National Investigation Agency inquiry and the FIR remain active, and the nuns face strict reporting conditions and surety requirements despite their release on bail.