Will you abide by Court order, HC asks Italy

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Friday asked the Italian authorities whether there was any understanding between India and Italy regarding the binding nature of its judgment.“Will Italy obey the directions of this court. Is there any reciprocal arrangement between India and Italy in this regard? If the judgment comes against Italy, will it be binding on you?,” the court asked the Italian authorities. Counsel for Italy Suhail Dutt submitted that Italy was ready to give in writing that they would abide by the order. Justice P S Gopinathan directed the Italian authorities to file a proper affidavit, along with the documents, on a plea seeking to quash the first information report (FIR) against the two Italian marines, who shot the two fishermen. The court had earlier directed the Italian authorities to rectify the defects in the petition, to which the petitioners filed a memo, along with six documents. The court said that it should not be filed as a memo but as an affidavit as per the rules.  However, the Advocate-General submitted that the writ petition itself was not maintainable and the state would argue on the issue in detail. The petitioners submitted that, as the members of the Navy, the marines are entitled to immunity abroad and should be tried in their home country. The FIR had recorded the place of the incident as 33 nautical miles (NM) off the Neendakara coast. But the remand report filed by the investigating officer pointed out that the incident occurred at a distance of 22.5 NM. “This itself reveals that the incident occurred in the trans-boundary waters. Various sections of the Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and the Maritime Zones Act, 1976, suggest that Indian laws cannot be implemented against the Italian marines. So the FIR should be quashed,” the petitioner’s counsel submitted. The court adjourned the hearing of the case to Tuesday.