SC asks Centre to deposit compensation amount with it before case against Italian marines is closed

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 9

The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre to deposit with it the Rs 10 crore compensation agreed to be paid by Italy to the families of the two Indian fishermen killed by Italian marines off Kerala coast in 2012.

“We will ask for the amount to be deposited in this court. Only then we will close the proceedings,” a Bench led by Chief Justice SA Bobde told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.

The CJI said the top court would disburse the compensation money to the kin of the deceased fishermen.

“Republic of Italy states an amount of compensation in terms of award passed in 2020 will be paid by Italy to India in the particular account specified by MEA. We direct that after such transfer the said amount be deposited in Supreme Court within one week thereafter,” it said, posting the Centre’s plea for closing the case on April 19.

The court was told that Rs 10 crore was to be paid in terms of an award given by a Hague-based international tribunal.

“Indians are the best negotiators…We have negotiated a good deal…They have paid Rs 10 crore more. Victims have accepted it now,” Mehta told the Bench.

The Centre had on April 7 urged the Supreme Court to take up its plea for closing judicial proceedings against the two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast in 2012.

The Bench had agreed to hear it on April 9 after Mehta said, “There is some urgency since it is between the Indian and Italian government.”

The top court had on August 7 last year said it would like to hear the relatives of the two Indians killed by Italian marines off the coast in Kerala in 2012 before closing the case.

A day after an international tribunal ruled that India didn’t have jurisdiction to try two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen in Kerala, the Centre had on July 3 moved the Supreme Court seeking disposal of the case pending before it.

In an application filed in the top court, the Centre had said it had accepted the award of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Mehta had told the top court that Italy had assured India that it would prosecute the marines.

In its application, the Centre said it would abide by the award in killings of two fishermen by Italian Marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone who were on board Italian-flagged commercial oil tanker MV Enrica Lexie when they allegedly fired at two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast on February 15, 2012.

The Hague-based tribunal on July 2 ruled that the two marines should be tried in Italy and asked the Indian authorities to close the criminal case against them.

The tribunal, however, had agreed with India’s contention that the Italian marines broke the freedom of navigation aspect of UNCLOS and, therefore, the killed fishermen’s kin were entitled to compensation.

The Supreme Court had in 2014 stayed the criminal proceedings against the two Italian marines before a Special Court at Kollam in Kerala. In 2015, it halted all the proceedings before all courts in India in view of an ITLOS (International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea) order calling upon India and Italy to suspend all criminal proceedings against the two marines.