Boy was on boat that took fire from Italian marines, claims family; seeks Rs 100 crore compensation

In a fresh twist in the Enrica Lexie Italian vessel fairing incident that claimed the lives of fishermen off Kerala coast in 2012, the family of a minor approached the centre seeking Rs. 100 crore compensation claiming that the minor boy was present in the fishing boat at the time of the firing and he later ended life owing to the trauma over the incident.

The family of Prajin, who hailed from Kanyakumari district, have sought the compensation, along with eight other crew members in the boat at the time of the incident. The compensations sought by the others also ranged from Rs. 80 crore to Rs. 100 crore each, said advocate Yash Thomas Mannully who sent the notices for them to Cabinet secretary.

An international tribunal recently ordered that Italian Navy personnel Massimilano Latorre and Salvatore Girone who fired at the fishermen could not be prosecuted or punished in India, but Italy will have to pay compensation to India for the killings.

Prajin's family maintained that Prajin, who was 14 at the time of the incident, was working as a trainee crew in the fishing boat St Anthony owned by Kanyakumari native Fredy John Bosco. Prajin suffered mental trauma on witnessing the fishermen being killed. Before the boat was brought back to the coast, the other crew members shifted him to another fishing boat in the mid-sea as the boat owner feared of implications of engaging a minor boy for work in the boat. Prajin did not come out of the trauma for years and he ended life last year, the family claimed.

A senior police officer in Kerala, who was part of the investigation into the incident, said that he did not come across such an incident then.

Advocate Mannully said that even as the other crew members said that they had mentioned about Prajin's presence in the boat to the investigators, it was not included in the statements produced before court.