NIA should continue probe of trigger-happy Italian marines: SC
26 Apr 2013
The Supreme Court today decreed that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) should continue to probe the case against two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen last year, and asked the trial court to conduct the trial on a day-to-day basis after a chargesheet is filed.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Altamas Kabir, Justice A R Dave and Justice Vikramajit Sen clarified that the special court set up by the government to try the case will not take up any other matter and complete the trial as soon as possible.
The bench said that the two marines, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, will remain in the custody of the apex court till the trial is completed.
The Italian government had opposed the NIA investigation, fearing that it could lead to a death verdict. The government on the other hand contended that the Central Bureau of Investigation, which normally handles such cases, is overburdened and the NIA would complete the investigation faster.
The death sentence is mandatory punishment if a person is convicted under the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Maritime Navigation and Fixed Platforms on Continental Shelf Act (SUA), 2002.
India has virtually promised Italy that the two would not be awarded the death penalty, as external minister Salman Khurshid told parliament on 22 March after Italy returned the marines to India for trial.
The marines had been allowed by the Supreme Court to return to Italy to vote in the elections there in February; but Italy then refused to return the two for further trial, sparking a diplomatic row.
Khurshid said the case did not fall in the category of "rarest of rare cases" that attracts the death penalty in India. But in making such a statement, he may have overstepped the dividing line between the executive and the judiciary.
The two marines posted on the Italian-flag oiler Enrica Lexie had shot dead two of four fishermen on a boat off the south Indian coast. Their defence is that they mistook the low-powered fishing smack for a pirate vessel as it approached 'too close' to the oil tanker.
The families of the two dead fishermen, Ajay Binki and Gelastine, have been financially compensated by Italy; but sentiment in the case runs too deep for matters to be allowed to rest there.
