Anbu Jothi Ashram case: Hearing of bail plea adjourned to April 5

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Thursday directed the CB-CID to file a detailed reply in connection with the bail plea filed by Anbu Jothi Ashram owner Jubin Baby and others.

The home, Anbu Jothi Ashram at Kundalapuliyur near Villupuram, was shut recently after serious allegations of sexual assault, human trafficking and drugging of its inmates surfaced.

There have been complaints of rape and human trafficking from the mental care home run by Jubin Baby and his wife Maria hailing from Kerala. The probe into the Anbu Jothi Ashram came out when US resident Salim Khan’s friend Halideen filed a habeas corpus petition at the Madras High Court after finding Salim’s uncle Zafirullah (70) missing from the ashram. Then, the Villupuram police arrested Jubin Baby, owner of Anbu Jothi Ashram and 7 others in connection with the case and sent to prison.

It was revealed that the owners of the ashram used to transfer people undergoing mental illness to other ashrams in Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan. Realising that the enormity of the issue warranted an inter-state investigation, the case was transferred to the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) which also reported the probe into its Bengaluru home.

Subsequently, the ashram owner Jubin Baby and 6 others filed a bail plea in the Madras High Court on March 21. Hearing the arguments, Justice AD Jagadish Chandira ordered the CB-CID to file a detailed reply over the allegations and the evidences in connection with the case and adjourned the hearing to April 5.

Earlier, the counsel for the petitioners contended that the Anbu Jothi Ashram has rescued around 4,000 mentally challenged people from the roads and public places with the help of police personnel and proper treatment was given to them in various homes.

“The complaints against the Ashram is completely false and baseless. We have run the ashram for 25 years with proper licences, certificates and all the allegations including sexual assault, human trafficking and drugging are false. The complaint was filed due to the pressure from the police department. Without even a complaint, the state police had registered a case by themselves,” he pointed out.

Responding to this, the counsel who appeared on behalf of the state police said that a case was registered only after the district authorities’ inspection at the said ashram.

Also he said that the medical report related to the sexual allegations has not been received yet.