Anbu Jothi Ashram case: Order on bail plea reserved

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday adjourned the order on the bail pleas 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 has 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 in 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).

Subsequently, the ashram owner Jubin Baby and 6 others filed a bail plea in the Madras High Court on March 21.

Hearing the arguments, On March 29, Justice AD Jagadish Chandira ordered the CB-CID to file a detailed reply over the allegations and the evidence in connection with the case and adjourned the hearing.

When this bail plea came for hearing before Justice AD Jagadish Chandira on Tuesday, the CB-CID submitted the day to day developments related to the case and explained the court that so far 167 people were rescued from the ashram and admitted at various rehabilitation centres and 34 were handed over to their relatives while 28 were admitted to the government mental hospital, Kilpauk, Chennai.

However, the court questioned what benefit the petitioners got by running a home for the destitute.

Responding to this, the CB-CID informed that there is an allegation that money is being received from various places and that there is an allegation that organs are being sold and that should be investigated.

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

"The complaint against the Anbu Jothi 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 themselves," he pointed out.

Hearing the arguments, the court adjourned the order on the bail pleas.