Owner of Illegally run mental home at Villupuram, TN remanded in judicial custody

Chennai, Feb 16 (BPNS)

The owner of an illegally run mental home at Villupuram in Tamil Nadu who was arrested by the police during a raid at the home a few days before was on Thursday morning remanded to judicial custody.

The accused Jubin Baby (45), a native of Ernakulam in Kerala  is charged for multiple allegations including rape and physically assaulting the destitute and mentally ill people at the Anbu Jyothi Ashram which do not have a license to run a mental home.

After he was arrested on Friday, he was admitted to Mundiyambakkam hospital after he complained of uneasiness following the arrest. The judicial magistrate court has now directed the police to remand him in judicial custody at the Cuddalore central prison after his discharge from the General Hospital.

The police conducted a raid at his destitute home following a habeas corpus case filed for a missing inmate from the home. In December 2021, A. Halideen admitted his friend, Salim Khan’s uncle Jabarullah (75) at Anbu Jyothi Ashram. His friend, Salim Khan was in the United States of America and when he and Halideen went to the Anbu Jyothi Ashram in search of Jabarullah in August 2022, the person was missing.

A complaint was lodged in Kedar police station on man missing charges and later in December 2022 a Habeous corpus was filed in Madras High Court. The court ordered the Police to conduct a search and hence the raid took place on Friday.

Incidentally, a female inmate at the home had filed a rape complaint against Jubin Baby and he was booked under charges of raping a person with disabilities.

The police said that they had raided the home on various charges including lack of license to run such a home, rape of a woman inmate, and a man missing case.

Villupuram District Disabled Rehabilitation Officer (DDRO), C. Thangavelu told BPNS that the Anbu Jothi Ashram did not have a proper license to run the home since 2017 and the application the home filed in 2022 was also rejected.

The DDRO had filed a complaint to the Kedar police and eight people including a woman were arrested and remanded in judicial custody.