New Delhi: Two British nationals were on Monday told by the Supreme Court to appear in a police station in Mumbai twice a month till the appeal against their acquittal in a case of paedophilia was decided by it.
Duncan Grant and Allan Jhon Waters, whose passports were deposited with the Mumbai police on the direction of the apex court, were ordered by a bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, to appear in the Colaba Police station.
The Bench also directed the two Britons to give an undertaking that they would not leave the country without the permission of the apex court which would hear the appeals against their acquittal in April.
The court on August 1 last year had virtually restrained them from leaving the country by asking them to deposit their passports with the Mumbai Police after an NGO had challenged their acquittal by the Bombay High Court on July 23, 2008.
The apex court had admitted the appeals of the NGO and Maharashtra government and had sought responses from them -- as to why action should not be taken against them under section 390 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) for their arrest pending an appeal filed against the acquittal.
The provision provides that when an appeal is filed against an acquittal, a warrant can be issued by court directing that the accused be arrested and brought before it or the subordinate court pending the disposal of the appeal or admit him to bail.
Senior advocate Fali S Nariman, appearing for the NGO, Childline India Foundation, said that the accused, who were brought for trial only after an Interpol Red Corner Notice was issued, should give an undertaking to stay in India till the appeal is decided.
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