New Delhi (The Statesman/ANN) - The diplomatic row over the killing of two Indian fishermen at sea continued to rage today after Italy failed to convince India to allow the case in which two of its marines were charged with murder to be taken out of a Kerala court.
New Delhi stood its ground that law will take its course in India during the discussions between the visiting Italian deputy foreign minister Steffan de Mistura, who rushed here this morning, and minister of state for external affairs Preneet Kaur.
Simultaneously, Italy also moved the Kerala High Court for quashing the murder charges against two of its marines in the killing of the fishermen off Kerala coast last Wednesday and asked the owners of the merchant vessel to deposit a 25 rupees lakh bank guarantee. (One lakh is equivalent to 100,000.)
The ship will be arrested until the guarantee is furnished in the case filed by the wife of one of the dead fishermen seeking a one rupee crore compensation from its owners. (One crore is equivalent to 1,000,000.)
"As far as the law point is concerned, they have their interpretations and we have our interpretations...So as far as we are concerned in India, we certainly will go by our law," Kaur told reporters after the over an hour-long meeting in Delhi.
Mistura said there was an agreement on three points, but Kaur denied having reached any understanding. "The only agreement is that the law will take its own course," she said.
Putting forward Italy's position, MMistura maintained that the incident took place in "international waters".
"This tragic incident needs to be analysed properly and we can continue having a proper dialogue about finding a solution to it," he told reporters. At the same time, he said the ties between the two countries are "very important for all of us". In Thiruvananthapuram, chief minister Oommen Chandy said the government would go ahead with prosecution of the two Italians, saying 'it is the right and power of the state".
Questioning the jurisdiction of Indian courts and police, Italian government and the two marines of the oil tanker moved the Kerala High Court seeking quashing of the FIR charging the naval guards with murder of the two fishermen in firing from the ship off the state coast on February 15.
The petition was filed by Italian Consul General in Mumbai Gian Paolo Cutillo and the two accused, Latore Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone, filed the petition seeking to quash the FIR registered by the Kollam police in Kerala.
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