HC seeks reports on blind children's molestation

The Delhi High Court on Friday directed the city government and the police to file status reports on molestation of blind children at an NGO premises here allegedly by a British national, who has been arrested.

A Division Bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal directed Delhi authorities to take adequate measures to ensure safety and security of the children at the home run by the National Association for the Blind (NAB) in south Delhi's R.K. Puram.

The court also directed the Delhi State Legal Services Authority Member-Secretary to look into the matter and submit a report in the court on disbursement of compensation to the victims.

The court directions came on a plea which inter alia said that "the unfurling of these events clearly highlight the absence of due care taken by NAB administration to ascertain whether the accused was a threat to the very children he claimed to assist".

"Since persons with disability are more prone to such forms of sexual and physical assault, therefore stricter norms must be formulated for security and well-being of all persons with disability," the plea added while seeking direction for a court-monitored investigation by a multi-disciplinary Special Investigation Team in the case.

On September 2 evening, a staff of NAB had caught accused Murray Danis Ward in an objectionable situation with three minor boys. He was arrested after the NGO filed a police complaint on Sunday.

The 54-year-old British national was working as a volunteer with the NGO for visually impaired children. He was a frequent visitor to the NGO premises for many years, and was said to have donated handsomely for the children's education and hostel.

He was booked under the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Act.

Ward, a resident of Henely Cottage at Ampney Crusis in the United Kingdom, had worked with a Gurgugram-based MNC till April 2017.

--IANS

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