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Grant, Waters to challenge child abuse conviction

British nationals Duncan Grant and Alan Waters, sentenced to jail on charges of child abuse, have filed an appeal in the Bombay High Court challenging their conviction.

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MUMBAI: British nationals Duncan Grant and Alan Waters, sentenced to jail on charges of child abuse, have filed an appeal in the Bombay High Court challenging their conviction.
    
The appeal will come up for admission next month when the court reopens after summer vacations, their lawyer Majeed Memon said.
 
On March 18, both were sentenced to six years rigorous imprisonment for sexually exploiting children at the shelter houses run by them in Mumbai and neighbouring Murud.
    
The court imposed fine of 20,000 pounds each on them, to be paid in Indian rupees at the current exchange rate. The third accused, Indian national William D`Souza, was sentenced to three years RI for abetting the crime.
 
The court ruled that out of the fine realized from the accused, Rs 5 lakh each should be paid to two victims who had testified against the accused and rest should be used for rehabilitation of the other children who were living in the three shelter houses that Grant had set up.
    
The judge set up a committee comprising advocate Maharukh Eddenwala (who was appointed an amicus curae in the case) to devise a scheme for the rehabilitation.
 
The appellants prayed that the trial court was "swayed" by moral considerations and media reports while ignoring the evidence on record. They pleaded that the impugned order convicting them was unjust, illegal and against the principles of natural justice.
 
They claimed the judge had based his findings of guilt against the accused on inadequate evidence of two discredited street boys without corroborative material.
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