Chennai: Seven persons, including a couple hailing from Kerala, have been booked for the rape and torture of inmates at an illegal shelter home located in Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu.
The centre, Anbu Jyothi Ashram at Kundalapuliyur village, was operated illegally over the past 17 years by Jubin Baby (45) of Muvattupuzha and his wife Mariya (43).
The police had found that inmates were tied up and raped at the Ashram. Moreover, monkeys were made to attack them.
Realizing that the incidents were grave, the investigation has been handed over to the Crime Branch. The National Women’s Commission has also appointed a committee to probe into the allegations. The Commission has directly taken statements from the inmates who are undergoing treatment at hospitals.
The other day, it came to light that 15 inmates reportedly sent from the Ashram to an organization named New ARK Mission of India at Bengaluru had gone missing. The Ashram owners had claimed that these inmates had escaped through the washroom window. Officials of Tamil Nadu police have now contacted the Bengaluru City Police Commissioner to verify this claim.
The Ashram was registered under Good Samaritan Charitable Trust and opened in 2005. It claimed to give shelter to psychiatric patients, differently-abled people, women without support, beggars and alcoholics.
However, it was reported to the police that many of the inmates, including women, had been sent to other places such as Karnataka and Rajasthan.
The police have also booked Jubin Baby under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 based on a complaint that he had trained two monkeys to attack the inmates.
