Ship GPS holds key to Italians' trial in India

NEW DELHI,Febrauary19,2012: The GPS ( global positioning system), the space-based satellite navigation system, on board Italian tanker Enrica Lexie holds the key to determine whether six Italian naval personnel could be prosecuted in Indian courts or it should be left to Rome to act against them. The Enrica Lexie's security, which killed the two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast on Wednesday with the mistaken belief that they were pirates, can be prosecuted under the Indian Penal Code only if the incident occurred in Indian territorial waters. Indian laws are enforceable upto 12 nautical miles from the shoreline. But with indications that the shooting may have taken place in international waters, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea comes into play. "Under it, the accused can only be tried in Italian courts, and that too only if the Italian government wants it,'' said an official. Indian authorities are in a fix over this jurisdiction problem since preliminary probe shows Enrica Lexie was 18-20 nautical miles from Indian shores during the incident. Hence in effect, Enrica Lexie was in international waters, even though in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone that stretches up to 200 nautical miles from the coast. The shooting has led to frayed tempers in Kerala. All parties have condemned the incident, and CM Oomen Chandy has said that culprits would be brought before the law with the police registering cases. An official said, "Access to the tanker's GPS and records is required to conclusively pinpoint the exact route it was taking on the high seas.'' The AIS (automatic identification system), the tracking system used on ships to locate each other as well as exchange data with shore-based maritime authorities, can also be used to determine Enrica Lexie's route. India is angry that Enrica Lexie did not follow the laid-down international protocol, or "best management practices'' and "standard operating procedures'', by directly opening fire at the fishermen. Instead, the tanker should have first activated the emergency communication plan and issued distress calls on the open VHF Channel 16 or Channel 08, which would have been picked up by Indian warships and others. The next stage of "passive measures'' would have involved evasive manoeuvring, use of water cannons and warning shots. But Enrica Lexie apparently resorted to the "active measure of shoot-to-kill'' at the first instance.