Bunga Bunga to Indian laws.

On February 15 an Indian fishing boat was fired upon by 2 Italian marines guarding the ship Enrica Lexie within Indian waters killing 2 Indian fishermen. The ship was impounded and the 2 marines were arrested. The Italian government has been bullying the Indian government trying to get the marines and the ship released. Their argument is that the incident took place in international waters and so the 2 marines should be tried in Italy. Having insisted that the incident happened in our waters the union government suddenly did an about turn and submitted to the Supreme Court that Kerala Police has no power to detain either the ship or the crew because the murder happened outside the country's territorial waters. As complete a surrender to Italy as you would never wish to see. Meanwhile the Italian government has resorted to naked bribery of witnesses and the families of the 2 victims. They have signed a contract with Freddie, the owner of the fishing boat and another eye witness that they will not give testimony against the Italians. Freddie was paid Rs 1.7 million and has already turned hostile which means that he has changed his testimony. Meanwhile the Italians have signed separate contracts with the families of the 2 dead fishermen by paying them Rs 10 million each. This is a clear case of nobbling of witnesses inside India by the government of another country. The Supreme Court was not pleased. " This is a direct challenge to the Indian legal procedure. It cannot be permitted. It is an affront," said the Court. TOI, May 2. The Court went on," If two parties agree to a term which is against the law, what was the legal aid authority doing? How can a court put its stamp of approval and become a party to such an illegal agreement? How can the lady ( Doramma, sister of one of the fishermen ) be taken out of the case through illegal means? Can her mouth be shut by paying one crore?" The Italian government said that this was not payment of blood money but humanitarian assistance to help the families repair their lives. How noble is that? We know that Italy is the home of the Camorra, Ndrangheta, Sacra Corona Unita and many such organisations and that successive Prime Ministers have been criminals but how are they able to stick 2 fingers to our law with such contempt? Who is the Guardian Angel protecting the Italians? Is it the same Guardian Angel that allowed Ottavio Quattrocchi to coolly leave India even though the evidence against him in the Bofors case " was conclusive " according to Sten Lindstrom, the then head of Swedish Police. Will the Supreme Court stand up against the Angel and punish the Italians severely? We doubt it. The hangover from the Emergency is yet to clear.