The Supreme Court has restrained Italian Ambassador Daniele Mancini from leaving the country. On Thursday, the court served him with a notice of contempt to explain the breach of his undertaking promising safe return of the two Italian marines, who are facing trial for killing two Indian fishermen.
The Italian envoy has four days to explain his position before the matter comes before the court on Monday. The matter was brought to the attention of the court by Attorney General GE Vahanvati, who pointed out that a ‘note verbale’ received from the Embassy of Italy conveying the non-return of marines was rejected by the Centre on March 12.
Mancini was summoned again on Thursday evening for a meeting with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) officials. The meeting lasted for 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, Italy remained unperturbed. Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi told reporters on Wednesday, “We have juridically solid reasons to proceed in the direction of international arbitration.”
He said the the Indian Government was amply apprised of all it needed to know about our reasons, as do many of our partner. He was speaking to reporters at an international conference hosted by an Israeli think-tank in the city of Herzliya in Jerusalem.
The AG shared the concern of the Centre with the court and said, “Government is gravely concerned, more so because the order was passed by our highest court.”
Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy, who has an application of contempt prepared against the Italian envoy, pointed out to the court that no further time should be lost before the Ambassador decided to leave the country. The Bench questioned the purpose of Swamy’s intervention since the matter was suitably represented by the AG.
The Ministry of External Affairs is mulling over options to mark India’s protest against Italy. This involved review of entire gamut of relations with Italy that included diplomatic, trade and defence ties apart from reaching out to European Union, which was briefed on India’s views and position in the matter. Official spokesman in the MEA said the “entire expanse of our interaction” with Italy was being reviewed while stressing that Italy has to “respect and abide” by the agreements between it and the Supreme Court.
MEA spokesperson further stated that by restraining Mancini, no aspect of Vienna Convention, which governs diplomatic relations between countries, was being violated. Significantly, as per Vienna convention, the initiation of proceedings by a diplomatic agent or by a person enjoying immunity from jurisdiction shall preclude him from invoking immunity from jurisdiction in respect of any counterclaim directly connected with the principal claim.
“As part of our ongoing efforts following what the Prime Minister has said in Parliament, we have initiated a study of our interaction with Italy. At the end of the internal process, we will take further action that is appropriate, taking into account all aspects of our relationship,” he said. He was replying to whether the MEA will wait for further action till March 18, the deadline given by the Supreme Court to the Italians to file their response.
The Supreme Court had allowed the marines to leave the country on February 22 after satisfied by an unconditional undertaking given on oath by Mancini promising their safe return after four weeks.
Sources said India’s Ambassador-designate to Italy Basant Kumar Gupta, who was scheduled to leave for Rome tomorrow, is not proceeding there now.
The sources said that a decision on whether to expel the Italian Ambassador and on whether Gupta should take up the posting would also be taken after the review.