High Court reserves order on plea by US ship crew members

Madurai: The Madurai bench of the Madras high court on Tuesday reserved its order on the appeal moved by 35 crew members of US-based anti-piracy ship 'Seaman Guard Ohio' against the judgment of Tuticorin district and sessions court on January 11 giving them five years rigorous imprisonment and imposing a fine of Rs3,000 on them. The 35 members include 14 Estonians, 6 Britons, 3 Ukranians and 12 Indians.
When the appeal seeking to set aside the sessions court order came up for hearing before Justice V S Ravi, the appellants claimed that they were innocent and they possessed weapons for anti-piracy activities.
But, the state public prosecutor (PP) S Shanmuga Velayutham assisted by government advocate P Kandasamy pointed out many lapses committed on the part of appellants. "First of all, there was no piracy in the Indian Ocean. While so, where is the question of preventing it?," argued the PP. Following it, the judge reserved his order without mentioning any date. tnn
It may be recalled that the Indian Coast Guard intercepted the ship on October 18, 2013 off Tuticorin port and arrested the crew members after it came to know that the ship was carrying arms illegally. Later, the Q branch wing took up the investigation and booked them under various Acts including Arms and Essential Commodities. The district and sessions court on January 11 gave judgment finding them guilty. Challenging it, the crew members preferred appeal.