Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI
Monday, 4 August 2025
New Delhi (Agenzia Fides) – After several days in jail, Sister Preeti Mary and Sister Vandana Francis of the Green Garden Sisters were released on bail. They were arrested in July at the train station in Durg (Chhattisgarh) (see Fides, 30/7/2025). The nuns were planning to accompany three young women and an adult man belonging to an indigenous tribe in the Diocese of Jagdalpur in Agra (Uttar Pradesh), where the women had been offered employment at a Catholic-run hospital.”Christian nuns are increasingly being targeted by troublemakers who surround them at railway stations, incite crowds, and use abusive language,” the bishops of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) reported after the arrest. Now, after their release, they expressed relief at the decision of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Bilaspur.In a statement, the Indian bishops thanked “the Government of India and the Government of Chhattisgarh for their timely intervention and cooperation in securing their release on bail.” “We are grateful to the government for its support in this case. We hope this is the beginning of new efforts to protect the rights and dignity of all religious minorities in our secular democracy,” added Archbishop Andrews Thazhath, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI).Meanwhile, the Indian bishops called on the government to “greater uphold the constitutional rights of all minorities, especially the right to religious freedom, as enshrined in the Indian Constitution,” and to “take concrete measures to curb the increasing intimidation and false accusations against members of religious communities, especially those performing selfless service throughout the country.” (F.B.) (Agenzia Fides, 4/8/2025)
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