Italy tells Kerala High Court local police has no jurisdiction

Kochi (Kerala, India), Feb 23 (PTI) Italy told the Kerala High Court today that the police of the southern Indian state had no jurisdiction to investigate its two naval marines charged with killing of two Indian fishermen but it made a conditional offer to cooperate in the probe into the ballistic examination of the weapons used. Meanwhile, a local court of Kollam district of the state, has extended the police custody of the two marines till March one. The naval guards have been in police custody since their arrest on Sunday. The Italian stand amid the diplomatic row with India was articulated by visiting Deputy Foreign Minister Stefan de Mistura here and its counsel before the Kerala High Court which asked why that country was not cooperating. The Court admitted a petition filed by the Italian Government seeking to quash the police complaint against the two marines. With India not relenting on Italy's demand that the case be taken out of a Kerala court, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said any decision on how to pursue the case against the two accused should be left to the Centre and Kerala government. The petition filed before the High Court by Italian Consul General in Mumbai Gian Paolo Cutillo and the two accused also sought a stay on all further proceedings in the case. They submitted that Kerala Police have no authority to conduct investigation in the case and courts in India have no jurisdiction as the incident occurred beyond the Indian territorial waters. Justice P S Gopinathan, before whom the petition of the Italian side came up, asked the Consul General's counsel why they were not cooperating with the investigation. "Why don't you cooperate with the investigation?," the court asked the counsel. The counsel responded saying the Kerala police had no jurisidiction to investigate the case. The court then granted time till next week to the central and state governments to file their counter affidavits. Meanwhile, Abhinaya Xavier (17) and Aguna Xavier (15), sisters of Ajesh Binki (25), one of the two fishermen killed by the marines, moved the high court seeking rupees 20 million in compensation. They said the amount can be raised by selling the vessel through the high court registrar. Doramma, wife Jelestine alias Valentine (45), the second fisherman killed, has already filed a petition in the high court seeking Rs one million in compensation. PTI