Torture, sexual assault on Ashram inmates, TN DGP orders CB-CID probe
- Friday, Feb 19,2023
- 7 comments
Chennai, Feb 18 (UNI) Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP)
C Sylendra Babu today ordered a Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation
Department (CB-CID) probe into the alleged torture and sexual assualt
of inmates at Anbu Jothi ashram at Kundalapuliyur village in Villupuram
district of the State.
The DGP issued an order transferring the probe from the district police
to the CB-CID wing of the State police.
The district police who went to the ashram to enquire on a missing
complaint earlier this month stumbled upon the horror tale, wherein
several destitutes and mentally ill persons were chained and raped
by those who administer the ashram.
More than 100 inmates were rescued from the ashram, which has been
functioning since 2005.
It was registered under the Nalla Samariyar Charitable Trust, and has
been functioning without proper licences as a home for people with
mental illnesses and retardation, destitute women, beggars and
alcohol addicts.
The CBCID will also investigate complains that many residents of the
ashram, who were shifted to a home in Bengaluru, have gone missing.
The local police have arrested the ashram owner Jubin Baby (45), his
wife Maria (43) of Kerala and six of their associates on charges of rape
and assault, among others.
They were booked under various Secs of the IPC, including 376 (rape)
and under Section 4 of TNPWH (Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Woman
Harassment) act among others.
The Police were also investigating a possible human trafficking angle.
As the unlawful acts in the ashram came to light, more complaints have
started pouring in against the ashram, including that of inmates going
missing.
Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu Forest Department seized the two monkeys
used to scare and attack residents at the ashram and Jubin Bay was booked
under the provision of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
After receiving information that the ashram owner used monkeys to scare
and attack residents who refused to cooperate, a Forest team arrived at the
scene a couple of days ago.
After coming to know that forest and police department personnel are
visiting the ashram, the ashram staff had opened the cage and let the
monkeys escape.
However, two monkeys remained on the building terrace and in trees in
the vicinity and were caught by the forest department officials.
In a related development, the National Commission for Women (NCW)
has suo motu taken cognisance of the incident and has constituted a
fact-finding team to enquire into the allegations and submit a report.