Missionaries of Charity (MC) nuns accused of attempting to convert girl inmates at a shelter home in Vadodara city in the western Indian state of Gujarat will be hoping for protection from likely arrest when a local court hears their plea on Jan. 19.
The two nuns, who did not want to be named, had filed for anticipatory bail after police initiated a probe on December 13 following a complaint of a violation of the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act 2003, a law that curbs religious conversion through allurement, force and coercion, at the MC-run Nirmala Shishu Bhavan.
The complaint was registered by Mayank Trivedi, a district social defence officer who claimed to have visited the shelter home on Dec. 9. The inmates were made to wear a cross around their necks and keep the Bible in a storeroom they used regularly, he alleged.
These actions, according to the complainant, hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus.
The court had restrained the police from arresting the nuns until Jan. 10 but has yet to decide their plea for anticipatory bail. The Jesuit priest said that having a textbook in one’s possession or sharing it with someone for reading is not a crime and hoped that the court will uphold the Indian constitution and the law of the land to ensure justice.