“I stayed at the ashram for over 10 years and was sexually assaulted by the owner,” said a girl from Kolkata — who is currently undergoing treatment at the government hospital in Tamil Nadu’s Villupuram district — as she recounted tales of horror from a shelter home in the southern state.
Narrating her ordeal, the girl said: “They used to beat me whenever I disobeyed them. I was sexually exploited by the owner of the ashram. I filed a complaint of sexual abuse against him with the police. It’s not just me who was sexually exploited. Another friend of mine was sexually abused. I shared everything I went through with the police when they came to the shelter home.”
Another girl from Odisha, who was begging for alms in Tamil Nadu and was brought to the home when she was a minor, also told the police that she was sexually exploited. The girl, now aged over 20, is reeling under the shock and still not able to come to terms with the torture, said hospital sources.
The story seems to be the same for every inmate of the Anbu Jothi Ashram. Another survivor, who stayed at the home for four years, said she tried to escape twice because of the torture. “We didn’t get good food and sleep. They used to beat us a lot. They abused us and chained us often. They targeted old people, beat them up and stole their money and jewellery,” the survivor told News18.
She also admitted that young girls were sexually abused at the ashram. “The way they behaved with the girl inmates was inappropriate. Whenever they brought young girls, they sexually exploited them. Some of them have told me that they were taken to another location and sexually abused. My close friend often told me how she was sexually exploited by the owner and driver of the ashram. She told me that she badly wanted to run away from the place,” the survivor added.
Police sources and activists who have interacted with the inmates said monkeys were used to threaten them. Whenever anyone wanted to escape, monkeys were used to instil fear among the inmates, leaving them with no choice but to stay put at the ashram.
The house of horrors was discovered after a Habeas Corpus plea was filed in the Madras High Court about a missing inmate. A US resident, Salim Khan, had visited the ashram in December 2022 to check on his 70-year-old uncle Zafir Ullah but was unable to find him.
The family filed a police complaint and also moved the court. Following the court orders, district police officials visited the ashram on February 10 this year and found 15 inmates missing. The cops were also shocked to hear about the torture the inmates were going through.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Priyadarshini, who led the police team to raid the ashram, said: “Two of the inmates were sexually exploited by the owners. Those two girls have given their statements. Everybody was physically harassed. There are also children who were tied up in that place. We recovered psychiatric medicines. We have a few pieces of evidence to prove that they were physically tortured there.”
During the raids, police also confirmed that the private home had been functioning without a proper licence since 2017. “The ashram does not have proper records of the number of people admitted, moving out, or the details of treatment given to them. We are told people without history of illness are being administered psychiatric drugs for long periods. When such people are denied food and administered psychiatric drugs, their behaviour tends to change and their health deteriorates,” Priyadarshini added.
In the status report filed by Priyadarshini, she stated: “Huge quantities of psychiatric drugs, all bearing a seal stating Tamil Nadu government supply — not for sale — were seized during the raids.” The report also said forged letters from police officers allowing transport of inmates to other states were found at the private home.
Police officials said some of the inmates were forced to have schizophrenia and dementia drugs as well. “Patients suffering from mental ailments are few in number but the rest are depressed. When a healthy person consumes dementia and schizophrenia medicines, their brain nerves tend to degenerate,” Priyadarshini said.
The district police arrested the owners of the ashram — Jubin Baby, his wife Maria, their relative Biju Mohan and four employees in February. With more horror tales emerging, the case is now being probed by the CB-CID and efforts are on to find the 15 missing inmates.
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