Italian ship row: BJP demands Centre's clarification

New Delhi: The Centre is facing flak over its stand on the Italian ship crisis. On the first day of the Budget Session of the Parliament today, the Opposition demanded the sacking of the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Harin Raval over his submission in the Supreme Court that the ship <i>Enrica Lexie</i>, allegedly involved in the firing on the two Kerala fishermen, was not within the Indian waters.

Raising the issue in the Rajya Sabha today during the Zero Hour, The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has sought a clarification from the Centre on this issue. BJP's Balbir Punj demanded to know under whose diktat the ASG acted, and how his submission meant that the Indian courts had no jurisdiction to try the case in the Indian courts.

He said, the entire nation was sympathising with the family of the deceased fishermen and have expressed shock and anguish at the position taken by the Centre's legal officer when the case came up for consideration in the Supreme Court.

The ASG's submission that the state had no right even to file a First Information Report (FIR) has contradicted the stand of the Kerala government, which firmly held that India has every legal competence to try the case under its law, he said.

Advertisement

Mr Punj said, the Shipping Minister G K Vasan had earlier stated that the incident happened within Indian maritime boundary and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna had to say that he was not consulted.

The Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla replied, "I understand the feelings of agitated members. I will convey it to the External Affairs Minister and the Law Minister."

Advertisement

Earlier, the Ministry of Shipping had said the views expressed by the ASG were his personal opinion.

"In regard to the report, the Central Government expressed the view in the Supreme Court that the Kerala state police had no jurisdiction to detain the Italian Ship, it is clarified that the Central Government has not filed any affidavit in the matter, nor any such instructions were given to the Government counsel. There is no difference of opinion between the Centre and the state government," it had said.

Advertisement

The ship has been anchored off Kochi coast for the past two months since the incident happened. The two Italian marines, Latore Massimiliano and Salvatore Gironi, were arrested for allegedly gunning down two Indian fishermen off Kollam coast on February 15. They were guarding the ship when they allegedly mistook the fishermen - Ajesh Binki and Jelestine - for Somalian pirates and fired at them.