Court records statements of Somali pirates

In an interesting move on Friday, the Mumbai Sessions Court conducted and concluded recording the statements of 60 alleged Somalian pirates. Hearing of the case went throughout the day before the additional session judge JC Jagdale.

"The statements were recorded under Section 313 Criminal Procedure Code (CrPc) by the court," said Ranjeet Sangle Special Public prosecutor. Under section 313 of CrPc the accused is given an opportunity to personally explain any circumstances appearing in the evidence against him.

The pirates in their statement told the court that they had taken 22 Thai and Myanmarese nationals as hostages on their mother vessel 'Prantalay 14,' which was intercepted by the Indian Navy on January 28, 2011. They also admitted to nonavailability of the legal documents with them when they were arrested.

Among the 60 accused, one Mukhtar Yusuf Ali during the ongoing trail stepped into the witness box on behalf of all the alleged accused and prayed to the Court in Hindi ," Jaihind Sahab (with folded hands), hum log pichale saat saal se idhar jail me band hain. Hum log hamara galati samjh me aa gaya hain. Hum sab logone apane gunaah qabool kiya hain, hum ko kam se kam saja do. Aur hamara maa, baap, biwi, bache aur bhai-behan ko milane ke liye wapas bhej do ( We are in jail from last seven years here.We have understood our mistake. We have all admitted our crime, please give us minimum punishment. Also please send us to meet our family members in Somalia)"

The trial of next set of 28 alleged accused will continue on May 6.

The Indian Navy caught a total of 120 pirates between January and March 2011 and charged under various sections of Indian Penal Code, Arms Act and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

The first batch of 15 pirates was intercepted by Indian Navy on January 28, 2011. On February 6, the Navy and Coast Guard had intercepted another vessel 'Prantalay 11' and rescued 24 Thai nationals and arrested 28 pirates.