Reply to Veeresh Malik

Mr.Malik, I am not going into the aspect of which country has authority to take action against the wrong doers. The maritime laws are a bit loose and not water tight as that of the land. What I want to stress is that it is the primary responsibility of Kerala Police to take action against perpetrators of the crime. For example if the data on the VDR has not been preserved it is the responsibility of the captain of the ship. So too if any other relevant data has been tampered with. Why then the captain was not taken into custody. The Marines may not be under his control but the data and all materials is under his control and he is responsible. If the police was suspecting any tampering with relevant evidence he should have been arrested. What I tell is not to give an impression that the Marines are guilty. For that the jurisdiction of courts should first be settled. I am telling of the situation of the on going investigation assuming, I repeat assuming, India has authority to prosecute. It looks to me the prosecution is not sure of in which way to go ahead. That is why they are thinking of taking up SUA Act. Now there is another trouble for prosecution. The boat owner Freddy when he got 17 lakhs forgot everything and made some statements which is very damaging for prosecution. I feel prosecution will not dare to put him on stand as on cross examination the defense council make a mincemeat of him. So SUA Act will be more safe. Nice to  correspond with you. Guptan Veemboor

Heady Freddy

There was a news that Freddy, when he got the unexpected bonanza of 17 lakhs was so excited that he told that the boat was driven by Valentine Jelastine who did not have any license to drive a boat. Also that the ship was flashing lights and shooting in air but Valentine went at full speed towards the ship. ( Probably he thought that he can cross the path before the ship reached the spot.More or less like a foolhardy driver tries to cross a level crossing before a train comes.) But when the whole world was accusing him and families for accepting tainted money he back tracked and stuck to his earlier statement given to the police of the hail of bullets from the ship and of absence of any warning from the ship. Probably better counsel prevailed or the counsel he had engaged for putting his demand for compensation advised him not to talk like that.

The great Epic of Enrica Lexie- Part 1

Curtains are down on Part 1 of the epic Voyages of the Italian Ship Enrica Lexie. The apex court has given a very good judgement. The bond money of 3 crore is fine. And also the instructions to the crew and ship's owner that crew should be available if necessary and the ship should be made available for any inspection is also very just. I wonder why the Honourable court is so obsessed with the payment of one crore each to the families of the killed fishermen. After all they are poor people and their lone earning members have been killed. This payment cannot have any effect on the criminal case against the two Marines as they are not a part of it. It is only a criminal case of State of Kerala v/s Two Italian Marines. This payment cannot subvert the process of justice in any way. On the other hand it will help the poor families to make a decent living in spite of the fact their sole earning members are no more. This payment should be ignored totally.  But there is the other matter lying with the court. Is Indian Government authorised to take up this case or not. That decision also is urgent as Italy is contesting it. It will be good if the Italian Marines are charged as then they can apply for bail. They can be given conditional bail as they are not a danger to the society as such and cannot influence the case. Meanwhile the question of which country should take up the case can be settled.

Enrica Lexie--reply to Veeresh Malik

You being an ex-merchant navy man I have no right to ask about the maritime matters. What I am telling is just general thing. The case is criminal case. It is State of Kerala versus Two Italian Marines who are accused of killing two Indian nationals. It is a murder case and individuals have no locus standi as far as the criminal case is involved. The families or dependents have a say on the quantum of compensation only which is a civil matter. This civil matter is also settled along with the criminal case when the guilty is punished as the judge will decide the quantum of compensation to be paid to the dependents of the victim. Whether the families of the victims take money from the people of the accused cannot alter the course of criminal case at all. In this case they are not witnesses even so that they may turn hostile. The incident happened mid-sea miles away from where the families were staying. So all this noise that Italian Government is bribing the families or trying to keep their mouth shut is meaningless. Even after this payment the court can decide when the final judgement is made the quantum of compensation to be paid irrespective of what the families got earlier from Italian Government. The families had submitted application in the court that the ship should not be released before their compensation was settled. Now as they are satisfied with the compensation they have no objection for the ship to be released. They have not told anything of releasing the Marines. Even if they say they should be released it has no meaning and significance in the case. The owner of the boat Freddy also has told of not to release the ship till he got compensation for the damages to his boat. He got it and as far as he  also is concerned the ship need not be held. There also there is no question of releasing the Marines was told. So the case  of killing will go as it should be without any hindrance. And all the requests from the families and the owner Freddy had gone through courts and it was all done with courts approval. There is no substance in blaming the families or Freddy. And I think the shortcomings you have pointed out as that of Director General of Shipping is really that of the Kerala Police which is doing the investigations. It is their responsibility to check the relevant records and call the concerned witnesses. The have their technical team also to check the relevant data.

Skewed Logic-Enrica Lexie

What is the logic behind asking the Italian Government that the ship Enrica Lexie can be released only if the Italian Government can guarantee the presence of the other four marines on board the ship? If the ship is detained in the absence of such a guarantee it is the owners of the ship who suffers. The marines are not private guards employed by the ship's owners and they are directly under the Italian Government. The owners of the ship has no part in the whole affair except that it so happened the marines when the did the alleged shooting was on board the ship. Using a reverse logic, it is like keeping the ship in the custody of Kerala government as a guarantee for the appearance of the other four marines at the time of hearing of the case. If the ship was the property of the Italian Government it has logic. But it is owned by private party. Coming to the comparison of imaginary railway situation, it will be keeping the railway compartment as a guarantee for the presence of witness at the hearing of the case. Can the railway held responsible for the appearance of witness who were passengers at the time of incident?

Compensation for fishermen families

Italian government has told that this money given was just a goodwill gesture. Now they have said the same to SC also. The agreement made has no legal sanctity and it is for all purposes a valueless scrap of paper. There is no meaning harping on the issue and take the view that it has helped the poor families to tide over the immediate difficulties and make a decent life. Let the criminal case go as per the law and if the marines are found guilty and punished the court can ask to give proper compensation to the families as if nothing had happened. Let it not take into account what was paid by the Italian government already. And why the apex court is not pulling up Kerala court which has approved to include the fishermen families as a party for the case and later allowed it to withdraw from it? Is it not the fault of the court in Kerala?. Government have no hand in that. Let the poor families live peacefully at least. They should not be dragged into all these legal controversies and make their life miserable for the ham-handed way the authorities deal with the killings a tragedy for the families.

Imaginary happening on a train

I want to repeat what the apex court had earlier observed regarding detaining the ship and crew. Here is an imaginary situation.  Due to frequent thefts Government had employed armed guards in sleeper compartments for the safety of passengers. Early morning at about 3 am the train stopped in between. When the train was just starting a passenger hurriedly took one suitcase and hurried to the door and was getting down. One of the police man noticed it. The other police man was dozing. The alert police man thought that the person hurrying must be a thief and ran after him to catch him. Unfortunately when he was trying to catch him the person fell from the train. As the train had picked up speed the fall was fatal and he died of head injury. Later another passenger who was sitting near the person who was getting down told that he was a genuine passenger and was getting down as his house was near by. A case was filed against the police constable for causing the death of the passenger and he was arrested and sent to judicial custody. Now should the compartment detained at the nearest railway station along with the passengers till the case is over? Who will answer for the trouble the passengers will be having to stay in the compartment for months or years? Is it not the same case with Enrica Lexie? The railway compartment has no part in the incident and so the ship. The passengers are not involved in it and those who were awake and looking at the scuffle only just witnesses. So were the other crew . It is very illogical to detain the ship or put stringent conditions to release it.