Fishermen killing: SC allows release of Italian ship Enrica Lexie

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed a conditional release of Italian ship MV Enrica Lexie. The marines on board the ship had shot dead two Indian fishermen.

The apex court asked the owner, master and shipping agent of the ship in India to give an undertaking to the Kerala High Court.

A bond of Rs 3 crore will also have to be furnished to the Kerala High Court for the release of the ship.

The apex court has ordered that a bond of Rs 3 crore will have to be furnished in the Kerala HC for the release of the ship.

The Supreme Court gave the order for the release as it accepted assurance by the Italian government that the four marines not involved the incident will be produced before the court as and when required.

The decision comes two days after the apex court took strong objection to the compromise entered into by the Italian government with the families of the fishermen killed by its marines.

The court had raised the objections when the Kerala government told it that the state had no objection if the ship was released.

The Italian government had agreed to pay Rs 1 crore each to the families of the two killed fishermen following which they decided to withdraw the case against the Marines. After the deal the legal heirs of the two dead fishermen filed an application before the Kerala High Court stating that they wanted to withdraw the case against the Italian marines.

However, the Ministry of External Affairs had made it clear that the case against the Italian Marines would continue despite the deal.

The Italian government had on April 20 approached the Supreme Court seeking the release of its two navy personnel who were arrested by the Kerala police for the killing of two Indian fishermen.

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