With trade ties and a valuable helicopter deal in jeopardy, Italy may have seen the wisdom of bowing to the procedures of law rather than defy precedent
The return of the Italian marines to stand trial here upholds India’s self-respect and dignity. More than being a victory for diplomacy, it reiterates the importance of nations respecting the law of the sea in a globalised world.
While it was unseemly of Italy to use the threat of not sending the offending marines back in order to drive a hard bargain on crime and punishment, we must also understand the primacy of diplomacy in such matters rather than give in to jingoistic baying for blood.
What India could not afford to lose sight of is the fact that, as members of the armed forces, the two marines responded to a situation of potential threat at night in the middle of the ocean. To pass judgment on it as overreaction does no justice to the situation prevailing in pirate-infested oceans. It was only fair then that India gave in to the extent of classifying the action as culpable homicide or manslaughter rather than a murder charge that may entail the death penalty, which, in our case, is a medieval hanging by a rope.
It is hardly relevant in this case as to whether the return of the marines signals a triumph for the Supreme Court, the Opposition or the government, credit having been claimed on behalf of all three sections. It might even have helped that Congress president Sonia Gandhi, a powerful enough figure in Italian perception, aired the view that no country should take India for granted. With trade ties and a valuable helicopter deal in jeopardy, Italy may have seen the wisdom of bowing to the procedures of law rather than defy international precedent, especially when data about when and where the incident took place on the high seas is readily available.
The incident itself may have been coloured by a diplomatic stand-off of huge proportions, but the law cannot lose sight of the fact that a fair and speedy trial must be ensured. Some 13 months and more have already passed since the confrontation on the high seas left two Indian fishermen dead. Reparation has also been paid. It’s hard to believe that the trial has not even started. Such delays are not warranted as justice delayed is justice denied.
It may be worthwhile introspecting why there are double standards in India. The considerable fuss over the “Italian job” may have been caused by this diplomatic shootout, but what about the eight Indian fishermen killed by Sri Lankan Navy action after the war with the LTTE ended nearly four years ago? Why have we not shown a smidgen of eagerness to pursue those cases with the same zeal? Are those victims not Indians?
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