The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre to deposit in court the Rs 10 crore which is to be paid by Italy to compensate the families of the deceased fishermen killed by Italian marines off the coast of Kerala in 2012.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde, and Justices A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian said the court will not close this case until the amount of compensation be deposited and disbursed to the families of the victims.
The court has noted in its order, Republic of Italy, states that the amount of Compensation as per the award to be paid to the families of the Victim. The Republic of Italy states that amount should be deposited in the account given by the Centre. And thereafter within one week the same amount should be deposited in the Supreme Court. The matter will be heard on April 19.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted before the Court that the Italian government offered to pay a total of Rs 10 crore in damages. The families of the two deceased fishermen have agreed to a compensation of Rs 4 crore each in addition to the Rs 2 crore already paid by the Italian government. The injured owner of the boat had also consented to receiving damages of Rs 2 crore.
He said that the families have been adequately compensated and proceedings before this court and a criminal trial pending before a special court in Delhi should be closed.
The counsel appearing for the State of Kerala has submitted that the compensation amount should be deposited in the Supreme Court first.
“We will ask the award to be deposited in this court only after that this case will be closed,” said CJI Bobde.
Senior Advocate Suhail Dutt, appearing for the Republic of Italy, submitted that he is waiting for instructions from the Ministry of External Affairs to give them the account number for depositing the amount.
Solicitor General informed the court that he will provide the account details within the course of the day and thereafter deposit the same in the Supreme Court within next three days. He prayed the court to keep this matter for hearing after that.
“Mr Solicitor, we would like you to be this fast in other matters as well, normally the government says two weeks-three weeks,” said the CJI.
The Supreme Court had previously refused to pass any order on the Centre’s plea seeking closure of the case of the two Italian marines, who were accused of killing Indian fishermen in 2012 off the coast of Kerala. The court had said that the case will be closed case only after hearing the victim’s families and once adequate compensation is paid to them.
On May 21, the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague in the Netherlands had ruled that India was entitled to compensation from Italy “in connection with loss of life, physical harm, material damage to property (including the ‘St. Antony’) and moral harm suffered by the captain and other crew members of the ‘St. Antony’, to the ‘St. Antony’) and moral harm suffered by the captain and other crew members of the ‘St. Antony’, which by its nature cannot be made good through restitution”. The Tribunal however said that they cannot be tried in an Indian Court.
Following this the Indian Government on July 3, approached the Supreme Court seeking disposal of pending proceedings in Chief Master Sargeant Massimiliano Latorre and Others v Union of India and others.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Union Government, had submitted before the bench comprising Chief Justice S.A. Bobde, Justice A S Bopanna and Justice V Ramasubramanian that Italy had assured the Indian Government that it would criminally prosecute the marines and provide compensation to the victim’s families.
Mehta further argued that since the marines are now under the public prosecution of Rome, all cases pending before the Supreme Court be closed.
The bench however said that it appreciated the steps taken by Italy to prosecute the marines, however it insisted that adequate compensation should be paid to the victim’s families since this was the issue pending before the court. Mehta thereafter assured the bench that the Central Government will ensure that maximum compensation is paid to them.
The bench also questioned Mehta on the case pending before the special court against the Italian Submarines. The bench said that without applying for withdrawal of prosecution before the special court, the Centre cannot approach the Supreme Court seeking closure of the case.
“The fact is there is a criminal charge being tried here in India where the victims’ families are also appearing. Without applying for withdrawal of prosecution there (trial Court) how can you (UOI) come here (to the Supreme Court)? Why don’t you apply for withdrawal there? There atleast the families can oppose your application. Here they are not even a party”, the bench added.
The bench then said “We will not pass any order without the victims’ family being heard”, and had directed a Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to implead family members of the victims as party in its closure application.
The case pending before the Supreme Court titled Chief Master Sargeant Massimiliano Latorre and Others v Union of India and others is an appeal filed by the two marines, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, against a May 2012 judgment of the Kerala high court which held that Kerala had jurisdiction to try them. The high court ruled that the marines enjoyed no state immunity since their act of shooting at the fishermen was in defence of neither the vessel nor the state.
The application filed by the Central Government before the Supreme Court stated that “The Republic of India has taken a decision to accept and abide by the award passed by the (arbitral) tribunal which would have the bearing on the continuance of present proceedings before the Supreme Court. The applicant (central government) is, therefore, placing the award on record with a prayer that the proceedings with regard to the incident dated February 15, 2012 be disposed of in conformity with the Award passed by the tribunal.”
After the shooting incident by the marines, an FIR was lodged by the local police against them under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. Following this, Italy filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court of India challenging the criminal proceedings against their marines. Though the Court held that India has jurisdiction over contiguous zones under the Maritime Zones Act, the investigation was transferred from the Kerala Police to the National Investigation Agency.
Three years later, Italy approached the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) seeking to keep back the two marines in their country during the trial process and a stay on criminal prosecution initiated by India. On August 23, 2015, ITLOS directed Italy and India to suspend prosecutions initiated in their respective countries and prevent taking steps that might jeopardise or prejudice the decision to be rendered by the Tribunal.
Thereafter, on November 6, 2015, a specially designated five-member tribunal was constituted as per the provisions of UNCLOS. On April 29, 2016, the tribunal decided that Girone could be returned to Italy till the period of arbitration, whereas Latorre was already in Italy. ITLOS later referred the matter to PCA.
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In 2017, the Supreme Court had directed the Central government to place before the court whatever award is passed by the PCA. The central government has now in compliance with the court’s direction brought the PCA’s award on record and has also sought the disposal of the three pending pleas in the matter.