Leading maritime experts view the shootings as a terrible violation of human rights.
Wednesday's killing of two Indian fishermen by the armed guards of Enrica Lexie, the Italian tanker off the Kochi coast is a terrible violation of human rights, according to the country’s leading maritime experts.
"This is nothing but a blatant violation of human rights. Who is going to believe the claims of the Italians that they fired because they thought the fishermen to be pirates," Dr Jose Paul, former chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port, Mumbai, told DNA.
Dr Paul, an authority on maritime law and management, said it was illogical to believe that a small boat with 12 unarmed fishermen could be misunderstood as pirates.
"Whom are they trying to fool? Don’t they have binoculars through which they could have ascertained the authenticity of the boat?" he asked.
If the arguments by veteran maritime experts are any indication, the Italians are in for trouble, real trouble.
“They could face charges for cold-blooded murder,” said Captain Bhaskar Kunhi, a veteran navigator who is familiar with all the major oceans in the world. He said there was a globally accepted protocol to be followed in the eventuality of an attack by opirates. “Shooting to kill is never an accepted policy. All you have to do is to prevent the pirates from entering the ship while you are sailing,” he said.
Captain Bhaskar said the Italian crew should have intimated the Coast Guard or Indian navy about any possible attack by the pirates. “Both the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard are known for their prompt reactions in incidents like pirate attacks. They would have taken control of the situation within minutes since both are equipped with aircraft and high-speed boats,” said Bhaskar with more than two decades of sailing experience behind him.
Though some of the attorneys based in Kerala were of the view that it would be difficult to slap cases against the Italian crew, Dr Paul said the existing international law favoured the Indians. “The Indian Maritime Bureau has records to prove that the ship was well within the Indian exclusive economic zone when the shooting took place. And had it not for the mobile phones of the poor fishermen the ship would have escaped to safety,” said Dr Paul.
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