Italian marines case: SC stays payment of Rs 2-crore compensation to owner of damaged boat

The Supreme Court on Thursday put a stay on the payment of Rs 2-crore compensation to the owner of the boat attacked by two Italian marines off the coast of Kerala in 2012, Live Law reported. Two fishermen were killed in the attack.

The court was hearing a petition filed by seven surviving fishermen from the boat, demanding a share from the amount set aside for the vessel’s owner.

Massimilano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, who were on board Italian merchant vessel Enrica Lexie on February 15, 2012, said they had fired at the fishermen because they believed they were in international waters and claimed to have mistaken them for pirates.

While closing the case against the marines in June, the Supreme Court had said that the Rs 10-crore compensation paid by Italy for the incident should be transferred to the Kerala High Court, which will disburse the amount to the families of the deceased fishermen as well as the boat owner.

The families of the two fishermen were allotted Rs 4 crore each, while the owner was to receive Rs 2 crore. However in July, seven other fishermen injured in the incident approached the Supreme Court, saying that they were also entitled to compensation, PTI reported. The petitioners sought a stay on the payment to the boat owner till their claims were ascertained.

During the hearing the case on Thursday, Justices Indira Banerjee and V Ramasubramanian issued a notice to the boat owner. They will hear the case again after two weeks.

“In the meanwhile, we request the HC [Kerala High Court] not to disburse any amount to the boat owner,” they said, according to Bar and Bench. “We can perhaps direct Kerala HC to take a call with regard to this [modification of compensation amount]. But we cannot do this in absence of the boat owner.”

The Italian marines case

India and Italy had taken the case to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2015. The main bone of contention between the two countries was Italy’s assertion that India could not try the marines as the crime was committed outside Indian territorial waters. But, India had rejected the claim of the shooting taking place in international waters.

In July, 2020, the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague in the Netherlands had ruled that India was entitled to claim compensation from Italy.

The international court had said the two marines had violated international law and as a result, Italy breached India’s freedom of navigation under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The tribunal said compensation must be provided to India for loss of life, material and moral harm suffered by the captain and crew of the Indian shipping vessel on which the marines had fired.

However, the tribunal also declared, by a 3:2 majority, that the marines were entitled to immunity, and prevented India from exercising its jurisdiction over them.

The court ruled that India must end criminal proceedings in its courts against the two marines. The tribunal said this was based on Italy’s promise that it would try Latorre and Girone in its courts.