Anti-Maritime Piracy Bill 2019 passed in Lok Sabha

Anti-Maritime Piracy Bill 2019 passed in Lok Sabha

The lower house of the Parliament has recently passed Anti-Maritime Piracy bill 2019 which enables Indian authorities to take action against piracy in high seas. This bill also seeks to implement United Nation Convention on the Law of the Sea. It will applies to seas beyond the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) i.e. beyond 200 nautical miles from India’s coastline.

Why there is need of the Bill ?

As India’s 90% of trade by volume is happening through sea route and incidence of piracy in Indian Ocean has increased especially near Gulf of Aden. In absence of an effective law, authorities are unable to curb piracy activities. So, Parliament bring up the bill to safeguard India’s trade and prescribe punishment to the perpetrator of piracy.

• Definition of Piracy : any illegal act of violence, detention, or destruction committed against a ship, aircraft, person or property, for private purposes, by the crew or passengers of a private ship or aircraft, carried out in high seas or any place outside India’s jurisdictions. It also includes voluntary participation in the operation of pirate ship.
• Offences and penalties : The act of piracy will be punishable with (a) imprisonment of life; or (b) death, if act of piracy causes or attempt to cause death. 14 years of prisons, and a fine for assisting in piracy act.
• Extraditable nature : The offence will be considered extraditable i.e. accused can be transferred to any court of prosecution with which India has signed a extradition treaty.
• Jurisdiction of the court : The Central Government in consultation with the Chief Justice of High Court may designate a session court which will try offence committed by a person in custody and a citizen of India. It will not have jurisdiction over offences committed on a foreign ships.

• Provision of mandatory death penalty has been held to be unconstitutional as it violates Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution.
• Geographical applicability of law : The bill applies to part of sea adjacent to and beyond the limits of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Whether it is applicable to the region of EEZ, i.e. between 12 to 200 nautical miles is not clear.