The Madras High Court on Thursday, April 13, 2023 granted bail to Villupuram Anbu Jothi ashram administrator Jubin Baby, his wife J. Maria and five others facing charges of running an unauthorised home for the mentally challenged and using the inmates for human trafficking, organ trade and so on.
Justice A.D. Jagadish Chandira said, the petitioners “who had been doing service to the society for the past two decades without any blemish were now facing the ordeal of mere suspicion of their involvement in grave charges” but the police were unable to come up with any concrete evidence even after two months.
The judge pointed out that the petitioners were arrested and remanded in judicial custody on February 15 this year and even during their incarceration, neither the Villupuram police nor the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) had been able to collect any solid material to prove the charges.
He observed that the personal liberty guaranteed under the Constitution and reiterated by the Supreme Court on multiple occasions could not be denied to the petitioners on the basis of mere suspicion and surmises.
The judge directed the petitioners to stay in Chennai and appear before the CB-CID (Metro Wing) daily until further orders.
Earlier, the petitioners’ counsel R. Prabhakaran had contended his “clients had fallen victim to a false campaign of illegalities” and that the charges levelled against them were baseless.
According to him, the petitioners were being punished for doing social service which a very few people come forward to perform.
