VILLUPURAM: Villupuram police remanded Jubin Baby (45), owner of Anbu Jothi Ashram -an illegally run home for mentally ill and destitute, under multiple charges including rape and human trafficking early on Thursday.
The accused was hospitalized at Mundiyambakkam hospital for the past five days and was remanded to judicial custody before Judicial Magistrate V Akila. He will be moved to Cuddalore Central Prison after discharge from the GH here, said police.
His arrest was made after police officers led by Deputy Superintendent of Police (Gingee), A Priyadharshini raided the home on Friday, in a Habeas Corpus case filed for a missing inmate from the home in 2021. The raid was a revelation of various violations by Jubin Baby and his team – from not having a license to run the home, trafficking of people to raping the women inmates.
According to C Thangavelu, District Disabled Rehabilitation Officer, Anbu Jothi Ashram did not have a proper licence to run the home since 2017. Furthermore, a license application filed by the owners in March 2022 was also rejected due to a deficiency of requirements.
So, the DDRO, who is in charge of maintaining homes for mentally ill filed a case reporting on the violations to Kedar police on Monday. Eight members including one woman from the home have been arrested by district police and sent to judicial custody.
Further, a female inmate from a non-Tamil-speaking state had filed a rape case against the owner Jubin Baby. Police said Baby was booked for charges of rape of a person with disabilities. The inmate along with others was shifted to a different home on Wednesday.
Furthermore, “A branch of this home in Kottakuppam was also shut down and 25 inmates from there had been rehabilitated at the GH for now,” said district collector C Palani on Wednesday.
Who is ‘Anbu’ Jubin?
Anbu Jubin as he is locally known, or Jubin Baby, a native of Ernakulam district in Kerala, was a volunteer at a private home there. He chanced upon Villupuram on his way to Chennai to start his own home, in 2005. According to Baby, he and his wife Maria Jubin (45) started the home in a small rented house in Periyar colony in Villupuram town with about 12 inmates. As years went by, the home allegedly expanded into a large house accommodating 200 inmates at a time that they built at Kundalapuliyur village along Gingee – Villupuram highway in 2012.
The couple had not employed staff members at the home and instead used the labour of inmates for administrative and housekeeping activities. “At regular time periods we also deport inmates to other states including Karnataka and Rajasthan”, Baby told The New Indian Express.
A Habeas Corpus case to pull rabbit out of the hat
In December 2021, A Halideen (50) a textile trader from Tiruppur had admitted his friend Salim Khan’s uncle Jabarullah (75) to Anbu Jothi Ashram, through a volunteer at the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, in Villupuram. Salim Khan, who lives in the United States of America had visited India in August 2022, only to know that his uncle was missing from the home when he and Halideen tried to meet him. Following that, a man missing complaint was filed in Kedar police station.
The duo also filed a Habeas Corpus at Madras High Court in December 2022 and subsequent order from HC was sent to Gingee DSP this February, according to official sources.
As mentioned earlier Anbu Jothi Ashram did not have a proper licence to run the home since 2017. Furthermore, their license application that was filed in March 2022 got rejected due to a deficiency of requirements. These are a few of the amenities lacked for license:
1. Staff members
2. A helper for every eight inmates
3. Building stability
4. Sanitation certificate
5. A lift
6. Counsellor
7. In-house medical team
8. Identity proof for inmates
9. Separate room for severely affected MI inmates
10. Proper diet