In a formal police complaint, Thangavelu, the Villupuram District Disabled Welfare Officer, has said inmates of Anbu Jothi Ashram at Kundalapuliyur in the district were subjected to mental and physical torture.
Acting on the instructions of the Collector, the official, in his complaint to the Keda police, said a team of high-level officials inspected the ashram and found that it was functioning in violation of the rules and regulations.
No proper food
He pointed out that people were brought to the ashram against their will. They were subjected to physical and mental torture by the staff members, who also tonsured their heads and prevented them from having any contact with their family members. The inmates were chained and not given proper treatment or food. Besides verbal and sexual abuse, the ashram staff members used monkeys to scare the victims and made them work hard without remuneration.
Police failure
Suspecting a possible human trafficking to other States from the ashram, the official called for registering cases under appropriate sections of law and taking legal action against Jubin Baby, the director of Anbu Jothi Ashram, his wife Maria and others. Apart from booking the accused persons on charges of wrongful restraint, rape and assault, the Kedar police invoked provisions under the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017, and the Right of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
On how the ashram had functioned illegally since 2005 without any intervention by State authorities, police sources said Jubin Baby created an impression that the Home was licensed to admit and rehabilitate mentally challenged and destitute people.
Since it was registered under the Nalla Samarariyar Charitable Trust, the police thought that the Home had the authority to accommodate and treat the mentally ill and destitute women. With government officials from different departments often visiting the premises for various functions, the police never suspected the legality of the Home and even sent beggars, wandering lunatics and others to the ashram, the sources told The Hindu on Sunday.
Human trafficking
Even though a habeas corpus petition was filed in the Madras High Court after an inmate, Jabarullah, went missing, the police did not suspect foul play since Jubin Baby claimed that the man was among a batch of 52 persons shifted from Anbu Jothi Ashram to New Ark Mission of India in Bengaluru for further rehabilitation.
But the fact that Jabarullah was missing from the Bengaluru Home and the staff members’ claim that he and 14 others had broken open the window glass of the bathroom and escaped triggered the suspicion of illegal activities such as torture and human trafficking.
No police complaint
Since the New Ark Mission of India management did not file any complaint about the missing 15 inmates with the Karnataka police, the Kedar police in Villupuram district took up the matter with the Deputy Commissioner of Police, North East, Bengaluru City Police.
The visit of some government officials and the programmes organised by the ashram involving government departments gave the police an impression that it was functioning legally. There were no specific complaints of assault or harassment against the ashram and people living in the vicinity had never reported any suspicious activity, the sources said.
Scrutiny of evidence
Many documents, including those of money transactions and statements of accounts, computers, storage devices and other electronic gadgets seized from the ashram were being scrutinised with the help of cyber-forensic experts.
The investigation focussed on finding out the number of people admitted to the ashram over the years and the list of those discharged or sent over to other ashrams within or outside Tamil Nadu, the sources said.
A day after the National Commission for Women’s fact-finding team recorded the statements of the victims at the Villupuram Government Hospital, a team of the Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women made inquiries with them on Sunday.
