Supreme Court permits Italian marines to go to Italy to cast vote

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today permitted two Italian marines, accused of shooting dead two Indian fishermen off the coast of Kerala, to travel to their country to cast vote in the upcoming elections there.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir said that the accused marines, Massimiliano Lattore and Salvatore Girone, would travel to Italy under the control and custody of the Ambassador of Italy in India, to cast their ballot in the elections scheduled for February 24 and 25.

The bench also comprising justices A R Dave and Vikramajit Sen allowed the plea of the two marines and the Italian government to allow them to travel for four weeks to Italy.

"We are inclined to allow the prayer," the bench said while asking the Italian Ambassador to file an additional affidavit on behalf of the Republic of Italy.

While allowing the plea, the bench noted that under the Italian law, the marines are not entitled to cast their votes through postal ballot. The bench said that the marines are only allowed to travel to Italy and remain there and will have to return to India.

During the hearing, the court was told that the trial court in Kollam, Kerala, has not handed over the passports of the two marines to Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in accordance with the January 18 order of the apex court.

The bench was told that passports have been mailed on February 16 and it has not yet been received by the MHA.

Taking this fact into consideration, the bench permitted that in case the passports are not received, the marines can travel on the temporary documents and the MHA will inform the authorities at IGI Airport and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) about this order.

The two marines were on board the Italian vessel 'Enrica Lexie', when they had shot dead the two fishermen on February 15, last year.