India can't take action against Italian envoy: Legal experts

New Delhi, March 14: In what constituted a bad news for New Delhi, Attorney General G E Vahanvati has told the government that no penal action could be taken against the Italian Amabassador to India Daniele Manchini. It was on his undertaking that the Supreme Court of India had permitted the two marines to go to their country to cast vote in the election.

The matter is likely to come up before the apex court on Thursday with the government likely to file an affidavit explaining its position on the ongoing diplomatic controversy. The government has decided to leave it to the court to decide on Mancini's breach of law.

The attorney general is likely to present the matter before the bench of the Chief Justice of India on Thursday morning. It was learnt that Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy could also take part in the proceedings before the court.

Legal specialists have reportedly told the government that the ambassador has dopllomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention and he couldn't be tried in any civil or criminal case.

The government, however, has not given up hope. According to its sources, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea has a provision for settling inter-country disputes through arbitration. If India wins the arbitration, then the two marines would have to be sent back to India for trial, the sources said, adding that India could also approach the International Court of Justice on the matter.

The government has been told that it has few options with regard to the two marines accused of killing two fishermen from Kerala for they were out of the country's jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, senior advocate Harish Salve, quit as the counsel for the Italian government, saying he was an Indian first and also there was no point in continuing if the client did not have faith in the counsel.

OneIndia News