Indian Navy at sea over how to deal with nabbed pirates

New Delhi: With no instructions from the Indian government, Navy warship INS Mysore is at sea over what to do with the 23 pirates and their dhow apprehended by it in the Gulf of Aden while repulsing an attack by the brigands on an Ethiopian merchant vessel.

"Since Saturday afternoon, the 12 Somali and 11 Yemeni pirates are kept in custody on board INS Mysore and they are being fed with the rations meant for sailors," Navy officials said in New Delhi on Monday.

"We have not received any instructions yet from the Defence Ministry or the External Affairs Ministry on what needs to be done with the pirates," they said

The piquant situation that INS Mysore finds itself has been compounded as the Rules of Engagement issued to the warship before it set sail to Gulf of Aden on anti-piracy patrol duties is unclear on the course of action if it did seize a pirate vessel and sea brigands, officials said.

However, officials claimed that frantic efforts were in progress in both Ministries to get a foreign port to accept the bandits for trial in their courts and were optimistic of finding a solution by Tuesday.

The only other option available to INS Mysore is to abandon its anti-piracy patrols and return to an Indian port to hand over the pirates to local authorities for trying them.

But that appears to be unacceptable to the Navy authorities as their action against the sea bandits was just gaining momentum.

Officials said under the United Nations Convention on Laws of the Seas (UNCLOS), International Maritime Organisation resolutions and the Navy Act and Regulations, the warships were authorised to seize and apprehend the pirates.

UNCLOS Articles 100, 105, 107 and 110 provided for warships to act against pirates in the high seas or any other place outside the jurisdiction of any nation state, including boarding, inspecting, seizing vessels and its equipment, and arrest the bandits.

"Article 105 specifically provided for the courts of the country, which carried out the seizure, to decide upon the penalties to be imposed and also determine the action to be taken with regard to the pirates ships and their property," officials said.

The Protocol of 2005 to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation also gave similar powers to the warships of seafaring nations, including to extradite or prosecute the offenders, they said.

The Navy Act of 1957 and the Navy Regulations have clearly described pirates as "enemy" against whom action could be taken in the form of seizure of vessels used for "piratical acts" against ships of Indians and friendly countries and arrest of persons indulging in such acts.

That apart, these laws also provided for sending the offenders to the nearest Indian port for a trial in a competent court for offences committed on the high seas and the necessary witnesses to prove the piratical acts, they added.