New Delhi: The Supreme Court rejected a plea by Italian marine on Monday, accused of shooting two Kerala fishermen, to extend his stay in Italy.
The apex court asked Italian marine Massimiliano Latorre to return to India by January 16, 2015. Latorre had approached the SC seeking an extension of two months to stay back in Italy to undergo a heart surgery.
The Supreme Court also turned down the plea of the other marine who is in India and wanted to visit Italy for Christmas.
Under international pressure, India had dropped a plan to prosecute the marines under a tough new anti-piracy law. Italy says the incident occurred in international waters and that jurisdiction over the marines should lie with Rome.
In April 2012, Rome had paid $190,000 to each of the victims’ families as compensation. In return, the families had dropped their cases against the marines, but the state’s case still continues.
Both the accused were granted bail by the Kerala high court in May, 2012, but the Supreme Court ordered them to remain in India.
In a separate application, the accused Salvatore Girone, cited the psychological impact of his absence on his children—a son and daughter- and has appealed to the top court to relax his bail condition and let him travel to Italy.
Latorre and Girone, part of a military security team protecting a privately-owned cargo ship, claim they mistook the fishermen for pirates and fired warning shots into the water during the incident in February 2012, off the coast of Kerala.
The Indian government had handed over the investigation to the National Investigating Agency (NIA) which functions as the nation’s counter-terrorism law enforcement agency.
The NIA had registered a first information report (FIR) on 4 April, 2012 charging the two marines with “murder by firing” under Section 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 427 (mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and also Section 3 of the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Maritime Navigation and Fixed Platforms on Continental Shelf Act 2002 (SUA).
India invoked SUA, a multilateral treaty, to back claims that it had the jurisdiction to try the marines.