Long way to go
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The extradition of Alan Waters, charged in a case of child abuse, is a beginning but much more needs to be done, writes MEENA MENON.
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PTI
Welcome step: Waters being produced in court after extradition.
IT is a little over three years since a group of teenaged minor boys mustered up the courage to file complaints against two British nationals, accusing them of sexual abuse and physical torture. One of them, Alan Waters, was extradited from the United States of America on September 6, 2004, by a team from the Colaba police station in South Mumbai, whereas Duncan Grant, the other accused, was last traced to Tanzania where he was detained last year, but later disappeared.
The Mumbai police are still trying to trace Grant, against whom there is a red corner notice. Grant founded and ran the Anchorage Shelter, a trust, for boys living in and around the Gateway of India, with donations from the United Kingdom.
First case
This is probably the first case where a person wanted for sexual offences has been brought back to face trial in India. The case is about to come up for trial at the sessions court. William, the former manager of the shelter, and Waters face charges of physical and sexual abuse. Anchorage Shelter Trust was established in 1995 in Colaba South Mumbai and the project manages three shelter homes, one located outside the city at Murud. The shelter was not closed down after the case was filed, and is still being run by the trustees.
Apart from this case, the experience of child rights activists with cases of paedophilia is unhappy to say the least. Social workers from the Forum Against Child Sexual Exploitation (FACSE) had to work hard to ensure that an elderly Swiss couple, Wilhelm and Lili Marti, were trapped on December 12, 2002, with young girls in a hotel in suburban Mumbai. The trial court sentenced them to seven years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 15,000 each. However, on March 15, 2004, the High Court set aside their conviction and allowed the Martis to "settle" the matter as suggested by them, by paying a fine of Rs. 6,00,000 — Rs. 1,00,000 to each of their victims.
According to Ravi Adsure, standing counsel for Maharashtra in the Supreme Court, the State filed a special leave petition against this order, which was heard on April 5, 2004.
Plenty of evidence
The apex court asked the Martis to surrender their passports and not to leave the country. However, the court allowed the couple to be released on interim bail on a personal bond each of Rs. 20,000. They later filed an application requesting that they be allowed to leave the country and agreeing to abide by the Supreme Court's final decision. The court dismissed the application on November 4, 2004 and the matter has been posted for final hearing in a few months. Now it is learnt that the Martis are out of the country.
Activist Sangeeta Punekar, formerly with FACSE, said that the High Court order allowing the Martis to pay money instead of serving their sentence had set a bad precedent. "That means if you have a bank balance, you can get away," she said. In the other case, despite clear links between Anchorage and paedophiles all the way to Goa, the police did not pursue this connection, she said.
There is plenty of evidence to suggest that Anchorage Shelter was more than just a shelter for boys. The testimonies of the young boys are quite eloquent of the systematic abuse spread over several years. In a case some years earlier, a 14-year-old Sunil (name changed), from Nagpur, told the court of assistant sessions judge at Panaji on December 16, 1998, that while he was working in Mumbai as a shoeshine boy he met some boys who asked him if he was "willing to do unnatural sexual activities." A boy called Johnny took him to meet Duncan Grant (whom he refers to as Dunkel in his statement) at a place in Colaba. This man from London, according to Sunil's testimony, allowed him to stay and gave him food. There were about 50 to 60 other boys staying with Duncan.
Another foreigner took him to a guesthouse and paid him Rs. 500 for his services. He was given Rs. 40,000 and a mobile telephone after spending more time with this man. Sunil later met another foreigner, Helmut Brinkmann, who took him to the guesthouse again and abused him. Brinkmann took the boy with him to Goa. The local police at Calangute raided the hotel and Brinkmann was found with the boy. After Sunil's testimony, Brinkmann was arrested on August 27, 1998. The sessions court at Panaji sentenced him to six years rigorous imprisonment in February 1999. However, Brinkmann appealed and was acquitted in September 1999. Despite a look out notice, he managed to leave the country in October.
Vulnerable
Interestingly, the guesthouse was recently the scene of a similar offence, when officers of the Colaba police station raided a room on January 6, 2005 and found a British national, John Wheeldon, along with two boys. Inspector R.B. Gaikar of the Colaba police station said that Wheeldon asked the boys to give him a "massage," at the guesthouse. Both worked as tourist guides around the Gateway of India. Wheeldon was arrested and is now in judicial custody and his passport has been impounded. There is no connection with Grant or Waters, Gaikar said, though they have alerted Interpol and the U.K. embassy. The lodge owners have been instructed to report such suspicious activity as the 25 to 30 cheap lodges that abound in the area are often used for such nefarious purposes.
Nawal Bajaj, deputy commissioner of police, says, "There is no reason why a foreigner should spend two hours in a lodge with a shoeshine boy. We have sound evidence in this case."
Wheeldon had visited India in 1993 and 1994, when he had also gone to Goa. During this trip he was expected to go to Sri Lanka as well. The police are still waiting for medical reports of the boys before filing a charge sheet.
The numerous children, who mill around popular tourist spots in Mumbai, are vulnerable to such abuse. Most are migrants and live on the road with their families. The money offered in exchange for such abuse is too tempting for many of them. For instance, Sunil spent the Rs. 40,000 he received for his sister's wedding.
Anchorage Shelter did not even have a licence to operate, and in the guise of charity, children were subject to exploitation. Denial of the problem by the authorities as in Goa has often been the bane of child rights activists but the problem cannot be wished away. There is no specific law to deal with this crime in India and the onus of proof often lies with the victim. Apart from the infamous Freddy Peats who was convicted in 1996, for running an organised racket in paedophilia, and is serving a life sentence now, paedophiles have more often than not got away scotfree or allowed to escape. The extradition of Waters is a welcome precedent but the question is, will it be the only one?
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