Apex court suspends proceedings in Italian marines case

The Supreme Court on Wednesday suspended all proceedings against two Italian marines, accused of killing two fishermen off Kerala coast in 2012, on a joint plea made by the Centre and Italy in view of a direction issued by an international tribunal.

A three-judge bench presided by Justice Anil R Dave posted the matter for further consideration on January 13 in order to facilitate the adjudication of question on jurisdiction to try the accused marine officers. Additional Solicitor General P S Narasimha, appearing for the Centre and senior advocate Soli J Sorabjee, representing the Italy government submitted that the International Tribunal for the Law  on the Sea (ITLOS) had on August 24 directed for stay on the proceedings.

“There is an interim order by ITLOS at Hamburg in Germany pending adjudication on the issue if India or Italy had jurisdiction...the sum and substance of it is that we should not proceed,” Narasimha told the bench also comprising Justices Kurian Joseph and Amitava Roy.

He further said UNCLOS Annex VII Tribunal would be set up soon which would decide which country had jurisdiction and if the case would be triable at Italy or India.