The Madras High Court Bench here on Tuesday said it was inclined to modify its order passed on January 20 on the custody of 89 inmates, 74 of whom had attained majority, of an unauthorised girls home run by Tiruchi-based Mose Ministries led by Pastor Gideon Jacob.
A Division Bench of Justices S. Nagamuthu and M.V. Muralidaran said that it would not allow the inmates to reside at the same home, now run by the district administration with money being paid by the pastor as per court orders, since it lacked recognition even at present and was per se illegal.
After recording the submission of the pastor’s counsel that he had so far paid Rs.23 lakh, which was three times the amount that would be normally spent by him, to the district administration for running the home, Mr. Justice Nagamuthu wondered what would happen if he stops paying the money.
“Tomorrow we shall pass orders for shifting all the minor inmates of the home to other authorised homes for children in the district. In so far as the girls who had attained majority were concerned, they could also be kept in other homes for adults until their wish was ascertained and they were set free,” Mr. Justice Nagamuthu said.
The home had run into trouble after the filing of a public interest litigation petition last year by the office-bearer of a non governmental organisation accusing the pastor of keeping the 89 inmates without any authorisation.
The pastor told the court that all the 89 inmates had been abandoned by their parents on the doorsteps of his office at Usilampatti near here since 1994 and hence he had taken them to Tiruchi and brought them up with love and care.
Not buying his argument, another Division Bench of the High Court had ordered a CBI probe into the issue and ordered that the inmates could be maintained by the district administration at the same home, at the cost of the pastor.
The Bench said it would not allow inmates to be put up at the home as it lacked recognition
