The
news and controversies surrounding MV Enrica Lexie are getting murkier day by
day !
The
Italian flagged ship was travelling from Singapore
to Egypt
with a crew of 34 including 19 Indians. It had on board six Italian marines from the San Marco
Regiment. Fishing is common and fishing
trawlers are sighted throughout Indian coasts, Arabic sea off Kerala is no
exception. An illfated fishing trawler
named St. Antony had left Neendakara in Kerala with a crew of 11 to fish for
tuna. In what is reported to be an
mistaken apprehension, the ship showered bullets on the fishing boat killing
two fishermen Ajesh Pinki from Kulachal in Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu
and Jalestine from Kollam in Kerala on February 15, 2012.
One
version puts it as a ‘cold-blooded’ murder by trigger happy Italians; the other
version puts it that they apprehended it to a skimp – a boat employed by
pirates, though no such activity takes place closer to Kerala coast. When a killing happens, it is natural that
the perpetrators must be brought to book and just compensation given to those
killed. While a killing would remain a
killing, where it happened perhaps might give another twist of
jurisdiction. This is a Ship and the
incident involved in ‘Seas’ – so whether the place of incident was within
Indian waters or International waters needs clarity and for that mere arguments
or versions would never suffice.
Viewed
merely as a killing, it would be culpable punishment under Indian Penal code.
There is the Admiralty Law which decides various shipping related issues such
as possession or ownership, damage done by ship, death or personal injury
occurring as a result of fault of ship or defective machinery, lost or damaged
goods carried by ship, towage and the like.
To a layman, the jurisdiction would exclusively be dependent on the
locality of the act. Only maritime torts
would have to be decided solely by Admiralty Courts. Admiralty law is a distinct body of law
which governs maritime questions and offenses.
Commoners like us may never understand the intricacies of Laws and
that way Admiralty Law would only be too complicated for our understanding.
But instead of putting facts to
light and relying on them, the event is getting murkier. More than the vessel being Italy flagged, the perpetrators
being Italian Marines, perhaps has added newer dimension. Italy
is going into diplomatic overdrive, getting even the Vatican to bat for it, in its
efforts to secure the release of two Italian Navy guards, accused of the killing. There
are reports suggesting of a full-scale diplomatic offensive by Rome to get the Indian government to secure the
release of the two Navy guards without going through the due process of law in
the killings. Italy ’s Foreign Minister Giulio
Terzi was quoted as sayint that “The Italian government is working at every
level with the Indian government,”. Then
there was also the news quoting Vatican-based Catholic news agency Fides, that the newly consecrated Cardinal of the
Catholic Church, Mar George Alencherry from Kerala, has called for a “peaceful
solution” to the issue. He has appealed to the Kerala government not to resort
to "precipitate action" and warned the opposition against trying to
exploit the situation. He said “I am and will remain in close contact with the
Catholic Ministers of Kerala and I hope that they will help to pacify the
situation.
What
is this jurisdiction – how and in what capacity the Cardinal is going to
resolve this ? Later, there are reports
of Cardinal clarifying that he has not tried to intervene. Which news is half-truth and which is to be
believed ? The cardinal was quoted as
stating that he learnt the story of catholic fishermen killed, sad and the episode
was one of errors. All along it was the
story of Indian fishermen (irrespective of their religion) killed and was he
having any extra information for concluding it as an error !! The damage was contained when the Latin Catholic Church in Kollam reacted
sharply to the alleged statement of Alencherry, calling it unfortunate and said it was against the
interests and sentiments of the fisherfolk. The families of the victims also
vehemently slammed the alleged statement.
On
the other hand, there continues considerable confusion about the
interpretation of the event. Why should this become a diplomatic row also defies commoner’s
understanding. The Italian Govt tries to
justify their action but how can there any diplomatic immunity to such brutal
act ? From an Indian point of view,
however, it seems mighty unusual that the Italians opened fire without warning:
normal maritime practice suggests that even pirates or other undesirables be
given notice before the application of deadly force. It is a matter of fact that there have been
no incidents of piracy this close to the Indian coast. As of now, the
merchant ship Enrica Lexie remains
anchored at Kochi .
This
incident could be viewed as an accidental killing and would in no way compare
with the acts of Italian arms merchant
Ottavio Quattrocchi who was allowed to escape
with his ill-gotten gains or the illegal arms drop in Purulia by British
perpetrators and certainly not
comparable to the killing fo 24 pakistani soldiers by Americans.
Kerala’s
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy maintains that it was a cold-blooded murder and
the recent meeting failed to break the impasse.
CM Chandy was accompanied by
Excise Minister K Babu, Director General of Police Jacob Punnoose, District
Collector Mini Antony, Police Superintendent C Rajagopal and Kochi Police
Commissioner M R Ajith Kumar. The
Italian Minister was flanked by Italian
Ambassador Giacomo Sanfelice and Italian Consul General in Mumbai Giampaolo
Cutillo. Earlier, de Mistura had met
Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur at New Delhi .
It
is reported that during the discussions, both India
and Italy
remained firm on their stances over the two Italian marines in the custody of
Kerala Police. Rome has been seeking immunity for its navy
personnel arguing that the incident occurred in international waters. But Delhi has been refusing
to relent. It is further stated that the
Italian minister wanted to meet the
victims' families, but Chandy told him that the situation was 'not right' for
that. The police custody of the two
accused will end today [23rd Feb 2012] They will be in judicial
custody for the next two weeks. Meanwhile, the Kollam Magistrate has directed
the Kochi Port Trust to bring the Italian ship Enrica Lexie back to the
harbour. The police wants to search the vessel.
For the first time I am with kerala CM. If something is happening on our coastline, should state owned force remain tranquil till centre force arrival. Justice can be executed by centre or state force. Now will centre act wisely to punish Italian culprits?
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