Outraged over the Italian government’s decision to go back on its written assurance by refusing to return two marines facing trial in India, the Supreme Court on Monday said it had “lost trust” in the country’s ambassador and extended the restriction on him from leaving India.
“We never expected and we never believed the Italian ambassador will renege like this... You (two marines) went to Italy after giving an undertaking (that the marines will return)”, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir said.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Italian government and ambassador Daniele Mancini, submitted before the court that the ambassador cannot be subject to Indian courts as he enjoys diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention, to which India is a signatory. To this, the bench shot back: “The person (Mancini) has come to this court as a petitioner, we don’t think he has any immunity... He has given the undertaking. We are not so naive. He has no immunity. What do you think of our judicial system?” The bench, including Justices A.R. Dave and Ranjana P. Desai, said: “We don’t accept his (Mancini’s) statement. We don’t believe his statement. He has lost trust”.
The court extended its earlier order restricting the Italian ambassador from leaving India without its permission. “The interim order passed on March 14 directing Mancini not to leave India without the permission of this court is extended till further orders. All authorities in the country shall take appropriate steps.”
The court, however, said the period of four weeks for which the marines were allowed to go to Italy was not yet over, and they still had time to return. “We respected the undertaking (given by the ambassador) and allowed them (the marines) to go for four weeks, which will end on March 22. There is still time for them to come. Strictly speaking, they have not (yet) violated our order,” the bench observed.
It said a further hearing will take place after this deadline ends. Fixing April 2 as the next hearing date, the court told Italy’s counsel: “We are concerned with Daniele Mancini. We are concerned with his intention. Are you going to comply with this order? We are not concerned with anything else.”