They look up lazily from a game of cards on a soiled mattress to murmur, Father Duncan. The man vanished long ago, but there’s a hidden story behind the one-room walls of Anchorage Shelter.There is no board to announce this ‘‘orphanage,’’ because that’s not what this one-room setup is. Britishers Allan Johan Water and Duncan Grant ran another home for the boys at the lazy holiday retreat Murud Janjira in Raigad district. Up three dark flights of stone steps deep inside in Colaba, boys from the street amble in for a bath, watch TV and go back anytime they choose.‘‘This is a drop-in shelter. It’s begging season, so many are away,’’ says Vivek John, a social worker who refuses to answer any questions and insists he knows no Father Duncan. He gives a blank stare at any mention of a police case filed way back in November 2001. John refuses permission to speak to the boys and insists the room is not a residential shelter. Boys from seven years to teenagers lie on the floor, each beside bulging bags.Allan was not around two years ago, when a committee appointed by the Bombay High Court visited the shelter. ‘‘The boys told us there was a lot of physical abuse. There was a William Michael D’Souza in charge when Duncan was away. The boys said he would bang their heads against the walls and beat them,’’ committee member Kalindi Muzumdar, told The Indian Express, adding that the committee planned the visit on receiving news of reported sexual abuse of boys there. Muzumdar emphasises that it is a ‘‘residential institute for boys.’’Hosbet Suresh, retired judge of Bombay High Court, was part of the ‘‘raid’’ and says he’s glad Allan has been arrested in New York. ‘‘We questioned Duncan and the boys. Perhaps there was sexual abuse. They would not give us proper information. But we could see through it.he was exploiting them actually. We found it illegal and told the state government to take cognisance.’’Not so far away in Murud, Allan and Duncan had set up another shelter. Sangeeta Punekar, a social worker, had visited Rose Villa in Murud on receiving news that something very wrong was going on. ‘‘Some of these boys were promised they would be taken abroad, and for holidays to Goa. They were given gifts like brand new cycles, but wore shabby clothes. The House Mother would cane them for the slightest offence,’’ she told The Indian Express. The shelter still exists, but at another address called Hotel Sea Face run by Ganesan Nagarajan.It will be a long haul before Allan’s arrest pays off for boys at Anchorage. Colaba police who visited the shelter told this reporter that victims who filed the statements have to be tracked down. Anchorage is a registered trust, so police and social workers say it cannot be shut easily.
