Madurai:
The Madras High Court yesterday ordered the release of 222 inmates of a destitute home here after the court Registrar, deputed along with a team of medical officers to examine them, filed a report stating that most of the inmates were held against their consent.
Justices V Ramasubramanian and V M Velumani of the Madurai Bench of the Court also directed the Nodal Officer of the Central Government's Mental Health Department to visit the home, run by Akshaya Trust of award-winning social worker Naryanan Krishnan, examine the inmates who were mentally challenged or retarded and suggest ways of treatment to them.
The bench had on July 1 directed the court Registrar to visit the Home along with Medical Officers and ascertain the mental and physical conditions of the inmates there after an advocate commissioner appointed by the court found several irregularities in its operation.
The Registrar yesterday submitted in his report that 531 inmates were staying in the home according to the document provided by its authorities.
It was found in most of the cases the inmates were brought to the home forcibly and without their consent.
The report said that 247 inmates wanted to go out of the home and of this 25 were certified to travel with support.
The Advocate Commissioner was appointed on a petition by an All India Democratic Women's Association functionary seeking a probe into the affairs of the home, levelling serious allegations.
The Advocate Commissioner in his report said that inmates told him they were detained in the home by founder Krishnan against their wishes and suggested his prosecution for illegal detention.
The court has also directed ADSP Shyamala Devi to probe into the death of 22 inmates of the home in the last 14 months. It took a serious view of the deaths of inmates in the home.
On June 5, a 21-year-old woman ran away from the home and was later rescued by residents of nearby Kodimangalam village.
She told them that employees at the home used to allegedly sexually abuse her and many other inmates, following which the AIDWA filed the PIL.
The petitioner has also claimed a number of inmates had died in less than one year and suspected organ trade.