From correspondents in Maharashtra, India, 09:01 PM IST

The Bombay High Court Wednesday acquitted two Britons and an Indian of paedophilia and molestation charges for want of sufficient evidence against them.

The accused, British nationals Duncan Grant and Allen Waters and their Indian associate William D'Souza, were running the Anchorage Shelter Home at Colaba, south Mumbai. D'Souza was manager of the shelter home the British duo had set up in 1995.

Following allegations of molestation and sexual abuse of five street children levelled against them in 2001, they were arrested and later convicted and sentenced to six years imprisonment by a sessions court here in 2006.

Grant had earlier surrendered before a court in June 2005, three years after Mumbai Police issued an international arrest warrant against him in 2002 in the wake of a public outcry.

The trio had challenged the conviction order of the lower court before the Bombay High Court where Justice Bilal Nazki acquitted them on grounds of insufficient evidence.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)