LEGAL CHAIN FOR PIRATES

In September 1999, a Japanese-owned, Panama-registered ship, the MV Alondra Rainbow, was hijacked by Indonesian pirates.

- By Pradip R. Sagar

 The ship was repainted and renamed MV Mega Rama by the pirates. Within days, it was apprehended by the Indian Coast Guard off the Mumbai coast in the Arabian Sea. It was India’s first case dealing with pirates. The Mumbai sessions court tried and convicted the pirates under various sections of the Indian Penal Code IPC). However, on April 18, 2005, the Bombay High Court overruled the lower court's decision and acquitted all the accused. The reason: the IPC and Criminal Procedure Code CrPC) were invalid beyond Indian territorial waters, which stretches up to 12 nautical miles from any Indian coastal state. That legal gap has now been filled. To deal with the menace of piracy on the high seas, both houses of Parliament last week passed the Maritime Anti-Piracy Bill 2022, which provides for the prevention of maritime piracy and stringent punishment to those convicted of such crimes. Despite a sharp rise in piracy, there had been no legislation in India specifically dealing with the crime.

The Piracy Bill’ was first tabled in April 2012 by the then external affairs minister, S.M. Krishna. The Narendra Modi-led government reintroduced the bill as the Maritime Anti-Piracy Bill in the Lok Sabha on December 9, 2019, and referred it to the standing committee on external affairs. External affairs Mminister S. Jaishankar, who moved the bill now, told Parliament that out of 18 recommendations of the standing committee, 14 have been incorporated in the bill.