Law to deal with sea piracy soon

Feeling handicapped in the absence of a full-ledged law against sea piracy, and hassled by the recurring incidents of Indians and their ships being hijacked by Somalian pirates, the Indian government is planning to bring out a comprehensive legislation on sea piracy.

There is no definition of piracy in Indian laws and sea piracy is at present dealt under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Admiralty Law. The government finds them insufficient and wants a separate law with provisions to effectively tackle the menace in Indian waters.

The genesis of the law comes from a Supreme Court observation made in 2009 to form a law on piracy, and including issues like who pays the compensation if a ship sinks on high sea.

Internationally, the United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea (UNCLOS) defines piracy. Sections 101 to 107, relating to sea piracy, are to be adopted and enacted by each country as its domestic law to empower countries to take effective measures against pirates. The proposed law will establish piracy as a separate crime having separate penal provisions.