Marine Case India broke its promise to Italy

16 April 2013
New Delhi

Italy on Tuesday accused India of breaching the sovereign assurance given to it and the Supreme Court judgment by slapping provisions of Suppression of Unlawful Acts (SUA), which provides for mandatory death penalty, against the marines facing trial for murder of two Kerala fishermen.

By entrusting the probe to National Investigating Agency, which was integral to the decision of invoking SUA (Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Maritime Navigation and Fixed Platforms On Continental Shelf Act, 2002), the Indian government had even violated the apex court’s judgment shifting prosecution from the Kerala government to the Centre, Rohatgi said.

Rohatgi said the SC judgment had mandated the trial to be conducted under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Indian Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code but the government defiantly chose SUA to entrust the investigations to NIA. “The government should have entrusted the case to the CBI,” he added.Attorney general G E Vahanvati said selecting NIA as the investigating agency was just a choice between NIA and the CBI. “The CBI was not chosen because it is overburdened,”

Source – http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-broke-its-promise-on-marines-Italy-tells-SC/articleshow/19587690.cms

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