[1]The Kerala high court has directed the Italian side to rectify the errors in its petition that seeks to quash the FIR against two Italian marines accused in the sea-firing incident.
When the case came up for hearing on Thursday, Justice P.S. Gopinathan pointed out the errors in the petition such as the “improper” authorization of Consul General Gian Paolo Cutillo and the signature of the consul without attestation.
There was nothing to show that Cutillo was authorized by Italy to file such a petition, the court said and made it clear the Italians should not think the judicial system in this country was “loosely-knit.”
“Under what authority has Gian Paolo Cuttillo moved court?,” Justice Gopinathan asked, and noted that an important document, the affidavit clarifying his authorisation as the consul general of Italy, was not provided with the petition.
Counsel for the petitioners, Suhail Dutt, explained that there was no dispute on the authority of Cuttillo as the consul general.
To this, the court observed that the record before the court showed otherwise.
DGP Asaf Ali submitted that as per the petition, the accused had signed his papers at the counsel’s office on Feb 22, but during that time the accused was in police custody.
These errors were the inherent defects in the petition. So, the petitions should not be considered, he said.
Suhail Dutt submitted that an affidavit clarifying the mistakes will be filed on Friday, when the case will come up again before the court.
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