Court rejects captain's plea to hold probe aboard ship

March 13, 2012 02:00 am | Updated November 16, 2021 11:28 pm IST - CHENNAI:

The Madras High Court on Monday rejected a plea by the captain of m.v Prabhu Daya, suspected to have been involved in an accident with a fishing vessel off the Kerala coast on March 1, that the enquiry be done on board the ship.

The incident resulted in the death of five persons. The ship is now anchored in the high seas, 2.4 nautical miles from the Chennai shore. The court had already ordered the arrest of the ship.

In the petition, the captain, Gordon Charles Pereira (48) prayed for a direction to the police and other authorities to conduct the enquiry on board the ship.

Rejecting the plea, Justice M.M. Sundresh said admittedly two complaints have been registered by the Kerala police. The co-accused had been arrested and taken into custody.

Hence, the captain could not insist that he should be interrogated in Chennai, merely because the ship was here. Investigation was in a preliminary stage. When the co-accused had been arrested and investigation was on, the police could not be expected to conduct further probe in a piecemeal manner in Chennai.

The Judge said in view of the allegations made, the petitioner could not be asked to stay away. Moreover, what was sought for in the petition was inter-State anticipatory bail. Hence, the petitioner's contention could not be accepted as the manner in which the probe had to be conducted was within the realms of the Kerala police.

Replacement must before arrest

Officials of the Mercantile Marine Department (MMD) and the Chennai Port Trust (ChPT) said that the Kerala Police could arrest Captain Pereira only after the owners named a replacement for him, as under the Merchant Shipping Act, a ship has to be manned all the time and could not be without a captain.

Talking to The Hindu , a ChPT official said: “We have not received any information about the arrest or replacement. We merely objected to the arrest, as the vessel is in our shore and we are the custodians of it. Who will be responsible if something goes wrong? We are worried about the vessel's safety and security.

“If the police want to arrest him, let them place him under house arrest and post two to three more officers in the vessel itself. Moreover, the captain is from India and cannot run away.”

Echoing the view, an MMD official said that it was a fully loaded ship and could easily break away in case of a storm. Before making an arrest, the police should ensure that the owners have found a replacement.

“We are also concerned about the mariners in the ship and their safety. If the owners want to promote the Chief Officer as captain, we don't have any objection, provided he is duly qualified.”

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.