HC directs CBI to expedite probe against Mose Ministries

Says the right to a fair trial cannot be separated from the right to a speedy trial

MADURAI: Observing that the right of an accused to fair trial includes the right to speedy trial also, the Madras High Court Bench here on Wednesday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to expedite the probe into the affairs of an unregistered home for girls run by Pastor Gideon Jacob of Tiruchi-based Mose Ministries. The CBI should file its final report before the jurisdictional court, preferably within nine months.

Disposing of a public interest litigation petition filed by an NGO accusing the pastor of running an unauthorised home, Justices S. Nagamuthu and M.V. Muralidaran ordered the CBI Director to entrust the case to a women officer not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police. This was necessary as the charges included trafficking and sexual abuse of girls.

The judges rejected the CBI special prosecutor’s request to permit the existing investigating officer to continue with the assistance of a woman officer. They also refused to accept his request to give more time to complete the investigation since the Pastor had flown to Germany and was not cooperating with the investigators.

Further, the Bench relieved Tiruchi district administration of the responsibility, entrusted to it by the earlier Division Bench, of managing the home. It ordered that 82 inmates who had already attained the age of 18 years be allowed to live wherever they wished even if the parentage of some of the girls had been established through DNA tests. Those who wanted to continue in the home should be allowed to do so.

However, the court directed the Collector to shift seven minor girls to a home run by Periyar Maniammai Trust at K.K. Nagar in Tiruchi. In the meantime, since it was represented that an application filed by Mose Ministries seeking registration was pending with the government officials since 2010, it asked the Director of Social Defence to consider and dispose of the application within four weeks.

Rs. 28 lakh paid to committee

The judges recorded the submission of the pastor’s counsel that his client had paid Rs. 28 lakh to a committee headed by Tiruchi Collector for administering the home ever since the court directed the committee to take over the administration in December last year.

Further, recording the Pastor’s submission that all 89 inmates of the home had been sourced from Usilampatti near Madurai since 1994, the judges pointed out that the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 1986, which was in force at that point of time, did not require registration of child care homes.

Registration of all kinds of child care homes including those run by the government, was made mandatory only in 2006, and as on date, many government homes for children were being run without registration, the Bench added.