2 Britons cleared of child abuse

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Wednesday acquitted British nationals Duncan Grant and Alan Waters and their Indian manager William D’souza in the Anchorage Shelter paedophilia case.

The HC set aside the March 2006 sessions court order that had held Grant (64) and Waters (60) guilty of sexually abusing young boys at the shelter home in Colaba citing “lack of evidence”.

While convicting the Britons, both former Royal British navymen, two years ago, sessions judge PS Paranjpe had said: “Let paedophiles all over the world know that India should not be their destination in future.”

The duo had been sentenced to six years imprisonment and they were fined 20,000 pounds each.

D’Souza, the manager of the home, had been held guilty of abetting the sexual abuse and sentenced to three years in jail. The three are currently serving their sentence in the Nagpur prison.

Pronouncing the judgment in chamber on Wednesday, Justice Bilal Nazki and Justice SA Bobde said they found no merit in the prosecution’s case and there was lack of evidence. The final judgment was not shown to the parties and the prosecution’s plea for a stay on the judgment will be heard on Thursday.  

The acquittals have shocked activists, who saw the 2006 convictions of Grant and Waters as a major victory in the fight against paedophilia. “We will appeal against the acquittals in the Supreme Court,” said advocate Yug Chowdhary, who appeared for Childline Foundation, the child rights organisation which had filed the police complaint in 2001.

“We are shocked by the judgment. The evidence was overwhelming. This was a fit case for conviction,” he added.

“The judges have disbelieved the statements of the two witnesses,” said lawyer for the Britons Taraq Sayed. The defence team had discredited the statements of the witnesses (two boys who lived in the Colaba shelter) accusing Grant and Waters of sexually abusing them and others.