A Catholic bishop and a nun named in a case under the stringent anti-conversion law have filed anticipatory bail applications against their possible arrest in a central Indian state.
Bishop Gerald Almeida of Jabalpur and Sister Liji Joseph, in charge of Asha Kiran (ray of hope) Children’s Care Institute, a home for destitute children filed bail applications before the district court on May 30 in Katni district in Madhya Pradesh.
Both were accused of violating the state’s anti-conversion law in a police complaint by Priyank Kanoongo, chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
Kanoongo has accused Bishop Almeida, chairman of the orphanage, and the nun of forcing three Hindu children in the orphanage to convert to Christianity.
“This is a blatant lie to target the orpha-nage,” Father Thankachan Jose, a diocesan priest helping out with the case, told UCA News on June 1.
“The orphanage,” Father Jose said, “has been engaged in building the lives of the abandoned or orphaned children on railway platforms since 2005.”
“Our purpose is not to convert anyone but to rebuild their shattered lives,” the priest said.
He challenged Kanoongo to prove the allegation with “one credible case” rather than “misusing his official position.”
Such false cases will harm “poor children who get a place to stay, food, clothes and facilities to study,” the priest said.
The hearing of the case against the bishop and the nun, slated for last week, was postponed after the investigation officer failed to submit the records of the case.
The court is likely to take up the case for hearing in a day or two, Jose added.