Guptan VeemboorApr 3, 2012 05:23 AM
Mr.Sampath, I have many doubts about this whole affair. All the news I could get about this episode is from Indian source and I have a feeling that they are biased towards India. The comments in papers are all anti Italian. My doubts are:-
1. How is that everyone says that the shooting occurred in Indian territorial waters? what is the basis of this assertion? The ship Enrico Lexie would have been continuously transmitting its position and many other details on FM. I forgot the name of the unit but all ships are bound to have it. The data can be received by neighbouring ships and shore which have the receiver.(This is not the VDR which is the equivalent of Black Box of planes) Has this data been received by anyone and is it available so that the position of the ship at the time of occurrence of the shooting can be ascertained. Or are Indian authorities depending on the words of the fishermen for ascertaining the position. Can anyone imagine the illiterate fishermen will be carrying a GPS and would have noted the position of the boat at the time of shooting?
2. The question of shooting. Why people think that the marines are trigger happy and will shoot two innocent fishermen just for fun or target practice? Is it a normal behaviour of a human being? Is it not more probable there should have been some provocation from the side of the fishermen? You must have read of may accidents happening at unmanned railway crossing. It always happens due to utter negligence of the drivers of vehicles who tries to cross the track. Mostly they assume foolishly that they speed well enough to cross before the train reaches the spot and get crushed. Why not something like that could not have happened? The marines have told the boat was approaching ship fast. It could have been that the boat could have been foolishly thinking to cross the path of the ship before it reached the spot. This could have made the marines suspect the boat was a pirate boat coming to attack even though in fact it was trying to avoid it? Why everyone takes the fishermen's version as gospel truth and the white man is lying always?
3. How the judge has expressed his view orally that the whole episode was a terrorist act? The guilt of the accused is yet to be established. Before that how he can say that. That itself is a biased view. And on what account is this shooting a terrorist act?
4. Why this ship and its crew including its captain is held at Kochi harbour indefinitely? Police have been searching the ship some 45 days ago and the ship is under their control that they can search it at any time. They must have questioned the captain and crew and their statements taken. The guns found and taken from the ship were sent for forensic tests 45 days or so ago. Why the tests are not completed and why they insists that the ship cannot be released before the tests are over? If the tests are delayed why the ship owner should suffer losses for keeping the ship idle and also pay berth charges to Cochin Port Trust? And for the purpose of trial what is the necessity of the ship at all? Is not photographs of the places in the ship from where the alleged shots were fired enough. If a murder happened in a building is it not usual to present the photographs as evidence? Nobody brings the building neither the court goes to the building. This is simple harassment of the owners of the ship. As regards the compensation to be given to the killed fishermen the ship's owners were ready to give a bond for 3 crore rupees as asked by the court. Why the change of that decision? What I feel is that the Kerala Government has not any evidence to establish the crime and it is groping in dark and is delaying the whole thing. In the end it will have to withdraw the case for lack of evidence and give a huge compensation to the ship's owners.
Curiously the MV Prabhu Daya was allowed to sail after furnishing a bond for one crore even though four persons were killed when it collided with a boat.
1. How is that everyone says that the shooting occurred in Indian territorial waters? what is the basis of this assertion? The ship Enrico Lexie would have been continuously transmitting its position and many other details on FM. I forgot the name of the unit but all ships are bound to have it. The data can be received by neighbouring ships and shore which have the receiver.(This is not the VDR which is the equivalent of Black Box of planes) Has this data been received by anyone and is it available so that the position of the ship at the time of occurrence of the shooting can be ascertained. Or are Indian authorities depending on the words of the fishermen for ascertaining the position. Can anyone imagine the illiterate fishermen will be carrying a GPS and would have noted the position of the boat at the time of shooting?
2. The question of shooting. Why people think that the marines are trigger happy and will shoot two innocent fishermen just for fun or target practice? Is it a normal behaviour of a human being? Is it not more probable there should have been some provocation from the side of the fishermen? You must have read of may accidents happening at unmanned railway crossing. It always happens due to utter negligence of the drivers of vehicles who tries to cross the track. Mostly they assume foolishly that they speed well enough to cross before the train reaches the spot and get crushed. Why not something like that could not have happened? The marines have told the boat was approaching ship fast. It could have been that the boat could have been foolishly thinking to cross the path of the ship before it reached the spot. This could have made the marines suspect the boat was a pirate boat coming to attack even though in fact it was trying to avoid it? Why everyone takes the fishermen's version as gospel truth and the white man is lying always?
3. How the judge has expressed his view orally that the whole episode was a terrorist act? The guilt of the accused is yet to be established. Before that how he can say that. That itself is a biased view. And on what account is this shooting a terrorist act?
4. Why this ship and its crew including its captain is held at Kochi harbour indefinitely? Police have been searching the ship some 45 days ago and the ship is under their control that they can search it at any time. They must have questioned the captain and crew and their statements taken. The guns found and taken from the ship were sent for forensic tests 45 days or so ago. Why the tests are not completed and why they insists that the ship cannot be released before the tests are over? If the tests are delayed why the ship owner should suffer losses for keeping the ship idle and also pay berth charges to Cochin Port Trust? And for the purpose of trial what is the necessity of the ship at all? Is not photographs of the places in the ship from where the alleged shots were fired enough. If a murder happened in a building is it not usual to present the photographs as evidence? Nobody brings the building neither the court goes to the building. This is simple harassment of the owners of the ship. As regards the compensation to be given to the killed fishermen the ship's owners were ready to give a bond for 3 crore rupees as asked by the court. Why the change of that decision? What I feel is that the Kerala Government has not any evidence to establish the crime and it is groping in dark and is delaying the whole thing. In the end it will have to withdraw the case for lack of evidence and give a huge compensation to the ship's owners.
Curiously the MV Prabhu Daya was allowed to sail after furnishing a bond for one crore even though four persons were killed when it collided with a boat.
